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FROM PRINTER 



TO 



PRESIDENT 



BY 



SHERMAN A. CUNEO 




Publishers DORRANCE Philadelphia 



COPYRIGHT 1922 
BY DOKRANCE & CO INC 



MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



NOV 11 '22 

©C1A690322 



FROM PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 



SHERMAN A. CUNEO 



This unadorned narrative, the preparation of which has been 
a labor of love, is respedfiilly dedicated to its illustrious subjed 

PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING 

whose rise from a print shop to The White House is a striking 

demonstration of what is possible in our glorious American 

Republic, and whose gentle, harmonizing personality has served, as 

though by Divine guidance, a troubled Nation in time of stress. 

"His life was gentle, and the elements 

So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, 'This was a man!*" 

Sherman A. Cuneo. 
Washington, D. C. 

Oct. I, 1922 



CONTENTS 

Inteoduction 13 

I Ancestry 20 

II Early Days 23 

III Enters Politics 31 

IV Office Without Seeking 35 

V All 'Eound Printer 42 

VI Advertising 49 

VII Success in Journalism 54 

VIII Training as Country Editor 60 

IX First Lady of the Land 65 

X A Talisman 69 

XI Ethics 76 

XII Indefatigable Worker 81 

XIII The Gift of Friendship 85 

XIV Traits of Kindness 91 

XV Real Human Being 100 

XVI A Regular Fellow 107 

XVII The Former Band Player .... Ill 

XVIII Golf and Autoing 117 

XIX '* Looks Like a President^' 121 

XX The Golden Horseshoe 123 

XXI Fondness for Children 127 

XXII Some Human Incidents 137 

XXIII Election 145 

XXIV A Front Porch Inauguration 151 



ILLUSTEATIONS 

Wakben G. Harding Frontispiece 

Making Up Forms for His Own Newspaper . . 42 

The President with Mrs. Harding and His 
Father 66 

**I Played Every Instrument Except the 

Slide Trombone and E-Flat Cornet ' \ . 112 



FROM PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 



From Printer to President 

INTRODUCTION 

The writer has known President Warren G. 
Harding, the first ** country editor'^ to occupy the 
White House, a lifetime. We were bom and 
reared in adjoining counties. 

I well remember when he took possession of a 
hopeless newspaper venture, the Marion Daily 
Star, the name under which it came into existence 
and which it has borne ever since. At that time 
it was the only daily in Ohio in a town of that size 
— less than four thousand — and in those days, even 
more so than now, dailies were exceedingly pre- 
carious experiments outside of cities. I recall the 
itinerant street doctor, old Sam Hume, long of 
whiskers, who established it — a four-page folio 
printed on a job press; how the other papers, 
two of them, weekly *^ organs'^ of opposite politics 
with a bonanza of political sap^ — *^ county print- 
ing^' — tried in vain to freeze it out. 

At that time my father published a weekly in 
the next town north. Early in youth I was in- 
stalled as its exchange editor, and thus had un- 
usual opportunity to scan the columns of the 
struggling Star, to peruse the editorial utterances 

13 



14 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

of one destined to guide the destiny of a great 
nation and to observe the progress of the paper 
and publisher. I frequently came in contact with 
Editor Harding during this early period, often 
consulting him, often receiving valuable counsel. 
Many a shop talk we had in his upstairs office, a 
dingy editorial room next door to that in which 
his father, a practicing physician, had and still 
has a doctor's office. Memory recalls the litho- 
graphs of Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, which adorned 
the walls alongside those of James G. Blaine, John 
Sherman and other distinguished men of those 
days. There were also public sale bills, horse 
posters, dodgers and other specimens of printing 
turned out in the Star job rooms. During these 
chats the future president was reading proof, 
writing and editing copy and giving general 
directions. 

Those were the good old days of rural journal- 
ism, when editors went on joint excursions and 
reuned with fellow publishers at meetings of edi- 
torial associations, meetings which Editor Hard- 
ing rarely failed to attend. The memory of many 
an Ohio editor will revert with pleasure to a 
boat trip of country publishers up the Detroit 
and St. Clair rivers to Georgian Bay and the 
**Soo,'' a quarter of a century ago, which was 
taken on a chartered freight and passenger vessel 
along the Canadian shore, with Editor and Mrs. 
Harding among the congenial spirits of the party. 
At one point the boat stopped long enough for a 



INTRODUCTION 15 

picked '^nine*' of editors — Harding among them — 
to play a game of baseball with a team of local 
Canadian Indians. Those were days of newspaper 
individuality. 

Early recognized as a master of his profession, 
there was manifested by him at editorial meetings 
the same degree of modesty which has dominated 
his public career and so captivated the public. He 
declined office in his newspaper association, occu- 
pied a back seat at meetings and participated in 
discussions only when called upon, and then re- 
luctantly. But the few instances when he did 
participate he **said something,'^ for his success 
as a publisher had made his counsel well worth 
hearing. He was known for his safe, sane, con- 
servative methods, ever opposed to fads and 
schemes of every character, and he was listened 
to. In this connection it is proper to state that 
in the instances when he did speak at editorial 
meetings it was frequently in opposition to further 
legislation for so-called ^4egal advertising.'' 
Then, as now, he had the interests of the public 
as a whole primarily in mind and antagonized 
special privilege at every opportunity. 

The only time in the writer's memory when Mr. 
Harding's name appeared formally on the pro- 
gram of an editorial meeting was in January of 
1920, w^hen Grovernor Cox, a fellow-publisher, was 
also present. It was at this meeting that both 
were endorsed for the presidenqy, and both, sit- 
ting at the right and left of the chairman, in dis- 



16 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

cussing the high cost of newsprint and other 
'^shop'^ problems, diverted from their manu- 
scripts sufficiently to bandy each other on their 
respective candidacies. Those present will recall 
how the governor discounted the prospects of Mr. 
Harding's nomination, on the ground that **no 
senator had ever succeeded to the presidency." 

As another publisher in a neighboring town, I 
saw the Marion Daily Star double and treble, and 
observed its owner grow likewise — saw him grow 
from mere rural journalism, known only to a 
small community, to eminence in state and nation. 
I have seen him grow from the print shop to the 
White House — from a printer's devil to the presi- 
dency. But I have yet to see him outgrow his 
plain, simple self. He is today, as he has always 
been, merely Warren G. Harding, newspaper edi- 
tor, of Marion, Ohio, where his life has been spent, 
where he is still a publisher, and where he expects 
to return after he has served his country at Wash- 
ington. ' ^ I will welcome the day when I can come 
back and stay with you permanently, ' ' he said to 
home folks just recently. 

In a publicity connection I had a part in his 
campaign for the United States Senate, and had 
similar but more extended connection with his 
campaign for the presidency, beginning several 
months prior to the nomination. Stationed at 
Marion, in the immediate vicinity of the famous 
front porch, accompanying him on his several 
trips during the campaign, and enjoying a life- 



INTRODUCTION 17 

time's acquaintance, the writer has had oppor- 
tunity to view President Harding's remarkable 
yet typically American career at close range. 

Eepeatedly men and women have been heard 
to say of President Harding: **He is a man of 
destiny. Providence has chosen him for another 
crisis. ' ' And those close to him, those fairly inti- 
mate with his innermost thoughts, have reason to 
believe that he himself is imbued with a feeling of 
that sort. At any rate he has frequently voiced 
utterances indicative of a conviction that to him 
has come a sacred trust, that the trust came from 
On High. To that trust he has solemnly dedicated 
all power within him. One so imbued, with God's 
help, cannot fail. As he himself has so beauti- 
fully said : 

' * I believe in prayer. I believe in prayer in the 
closet, for there one faces God alone. Many times 
the outspoken prayer is only for the people 's ears. 
I can understand how those prophets of old in 
their anxieties, problems, perturbations and per- 
plexities found courage and strength when they 
gave their hearts to the great Omnipotent in 
prayer. 

^^How many things there are in Scripture that 
we in our own worldliness never discover! 

** After all, men are much alike. God made us 
all in the same image and there is no diiference 
in us except as we have developed, and when the 
weight of responsibilitjy is shouldered upon us, 
then God makes men equal to that responsibility. 



18 PRINTEE TO PRESIDENT 

It is the touch of responsibility that makes the 
human being awake. 

**The government of this republic has been 
adrift and the inevitable result has followed. But 
I am not afraid, for I know through courtesy, con- 
fidence and close adherence to justice one will 
have at his call the best minds and intellects in 
this great republic, and with their truth, advice 
and direction we cannot go wrong. 

**I have said it a great many times, that I do 
not know what there is in the revolution of fate. 
There was no particular reason why I should be 
President. I claim no outstanding ability. I did 
not even want the place — I am not advertising it — 
but somehow I have believed Avith all my heart 
that by temperament and practice maybe I fitted 
into this peculiar situation in the world. Tol- 
erance, patience and good will, a kindly feeling 
and the desire to help are the greatest needs of 
the world today; and if I can put that good feel- 
ing throughout the world, my services may not 
have been in vain. ^ * 

Those who listened to his masterly inaugural 
address were especially impressed with the sig- 
nificant emphasis with which he uttered the con- 
cluding words of the oath, **So help me God'' — 
which supplication was included at his own re- 
quest. In this, connection it is well to quote the 
biblical text upon which he took the oath as Presi- 
dent, from the same Bible used at the inauguration 
of Washington: Micah, sixth chapter, eighth 



INTKODUCTION 19 

verse: **He hath shewed thee, man, what is 
good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but 
to do justly and to love mercy and to walk 
humbly with thy God. ' ^ 

^ ^ Faithful from the first ' over a few things, ' he 
has been made ^ ruler over many things,* as the 
President of our republic,*^ was the tribute paid 
President Harding by the Dean of Princeton Col- 
lege when giving him the Princeton degree. 

^ ^ His charter in things political is the Constitu- 
tion. His guide in things spiritual is the Bible. 
First seeking to make American liberty sure, he is 
well aware that charity begins at home, but does 
not end there. He stands in the tradition of Lin- 
coln, a man of the people, leading the people, heed- 
ing the wall of the people and the need of the 
world. ' * 



ANCESTRY 

Of Scotch-Irish-Dutch Stock — Descendant of Indicm Fighters 
— \Family of Doctors — Nominated on His Father's Birth- 
day and Elected on His Own 

President Warren G. Harding, eldest son of 
George Tryon Harding, M.D., first saw the light 
of day November 2, 1865. He became fifty-five 
years of age on the day of election to the highest 
office in the gift of the American people. He was 
born near the village of Blooming Grove, Morrow 
County, Ohio, on the farm of his grandfather, 
who had come to Ohio early in the nineteenth 
century from Connecticut, bringing with him a 
bride whose maiden name was Warren. His 
mother, who died in 1910, was Phoebe Dickerson, 
descendent of the Van Kirk family, originally of 
Holland, pioneers of Pennsylvania and related 
to Colonel William Crawford, soldier friend of 
George Washington, who was tragically burned at 
the stake by Indians in the early history of Ohio. 
During the campaign, when a delegation visited 
the Marion front porch from the vicinity where 
occurred the burning of Colonel Crawford, the 
candidate in his address proudly recalled the fact 
of distant relationship. 

20 



ANCESTRY 21 

The great-great-grandsire of George Tryon 
Harding immigrated to Connecticut in 1623, from 
England. Like Grant, Harrison, Hayes and Mc- 
Kinley, all sons of Ohio, he is of Eevolutionary 
stock. The blood from a long line of Scotch-Irish 
ancestors on his father's side, mingled with that 
of the Van Kirks, Holland Dutch, on his mother's 
side, all builders of our great nation, makes him 
a red-blooded American. 

According to a New Englander who investi- 
gated old records, Joseph Harding came from 
England in 1623 and a daughter married a descen- 
dant of Francis Cook, who came over in the May- 
flower. Nathan Harding, direct ancestor of the 
President, was bom in 1746 in Middle Haddam, 
*Hhat unique nutmeg section known as North, 
East, South, West, Middle and other Haddams.*' 

The President's father, who is still practicing 
medicine in Marion — with offices in the two-story 
brick newspaper building of his illustrious son — 
was born seventy-seven years ago the twelfth of 
June, 1920, the date of his son's nomination for 
President. The Hardings were gifted in the medi- 
cal line and, according to an authority, there are 
over forty doctors of the name in the United 
States. One of the President's brothers is a 
phy'sician. Explaining how he happened to be the 
son of both a farmer and a doctor, the President 
recently stated : ' ^ While my father was engaged in 
farming he was also reading medicine in a doc- 
tor's office in Caledonia, where I had my first ex- 



22 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

perience with printer^s ink. Later he attended 
some lectures, and I was a fair-sized boy before he 
was authorized to practice medicine and began to 
do so. Then the boy who had been the son of a 
farmer became the son of a physician. My 
mother wanted me to be a preacher and my 
father, a doctor, but instead, I became a printer — 
and no one ever thought I would wind up as 
President. ^ ^ 

Historical annals of the Hardings reveal many 
encounters with American savages of pioneer 
days. On July 3, 1778, occurred the battle and 
massacre of Wyoming, near where Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania, now stands. Three days before, 
Benjamin Harding, Stukley Harding, Stephen 
Harding and nine others were returning to their 
homes after working in the corn field of Stephen 
Harding, Sr. They were ambushed by Indians 
and Tories, hacked and cut to pieces with toma- 
hawks, and only Stephen Harding, Jr., escaped. 
A party of thirty was organized by the surviving 
Hardings and three days later the slaughter was 
avenged. Three hundred of the same Indians and 
Tories were wiped out. 



n 

EARLY DAYS 

Works on Grandfather's Farm — Makes Brooms and Paints — • 
Attends College — Becomes Printer's Devil — Sells Insur- 
ance — Plays in Band — Loses Job — Buys Marion BoMy 
Sta,r 

No fiction is necessary to set forth the career 
of President Harding as a striking example of 
what is, possible in glorious America. The out- 
standing feature is that his early life differed 
in no marked particular from that of the aver- 
age American youth. He was reared in comfort- 
able surroundings, like most other Ohio farm 
boys. He was not born in a log cabin and when 
accounts following his nomination gave his birth- 
place as such, he gathered a group of correspon- 
dents about him in his office at Washington and 
asked them to correct the erroneous statement. 
**I don't want to start out with misrepresenta- 
tions. The log cabin stuff makes good copy, but 
unfortunately it is not true,^' he said. 

He had a good home, devoted parents and the 
encouragement of brothers and sisters, but like 
the average American parents, his were in only 
moderate financial circumstances and it was neces- 
sary for Warren, even in his school days, to rustle 
about for odd jobs, to provide ** spending change,'* 

23 



24 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

if not food and clothes. The summer months 
of his youth were spent in doing chores, and their 
category included painting bams, fences and 
sheds, chopping wood, laying ties with a section 
gang on a new railway, and much hard labor as 
a farmer. Quite rightfully can he lay claim to 
having been a real tiller of the soil. He also 
earned a dollar now and then playing in the Cale- 
donia village band, and later was a member of the 
Marion band when it won a prize at a tournament. 

Some accounts record that he began his news- 
paper career on a college paper, or in Marion on 
the Democratic Mirror, but it was in Caledonia 
that he had his start as a printer. 

Following the election, I happened to be in Mr. 
Harding ^s private car as the train passed through 
Caledonia. A signboard on the station building, 
reading, *^ Birthplace of Harding," attracted his 
attention and he reminisced a little : 

* * Caledonia is the town where I first got print- 
er ^s ink on my fingers. I was * devil* — as print 
shop apprentices are known — in the office of the 
Caledonia Argus and learned how to stick type, 
feed press, make up forms and wash rollers there. 
Stories that I began the printer *s trade in college 
or in Marion are untrue. I simply helped edit a 
college paper and was a mere reporter on the 
Marion Mirror, although each week, following 
press day, I helped throw in and set time copy. 
To the Caledonia Argus I owe the experience and 



EARLY DAYS 25 

inspiration that led to my connection with the 
Marion Star/^ 

Indicative of his extreme youth at the time he 
served as devil on the Caledonia Argus, I may 
quote from an interview with Comptroller of the 
Currency D. R. Crissinger, Marion banker, who 
has known Harding all his life : 

**An exceedingly industrious and bright lad in 
school, he was early graduated with honors from 
college, but long before this he had laid the foun- 
dation for his successful career. As a mere youth 
he commenced to set type and make up forms for 
his village paper, the Caledonia Argiis, which 
stood him in hand when he edited the college paper 
and later when he took over the Marion Daily 
Star, where he set type, made up forms, wrote edi- 
torials and did everything to make the Star a 
good paper. ^ ^ 

Mr. Crissinger also referred to another phase 
of Harding's youthful days : **The illustrious Gar- 
field, as a barefoot boy, drove a mule on the tow- 
path of an Ohio canal, but he had nothing on 
young Harding, who rode a mule from his country 
home to school in town — and set type in his bare 
feet.'' 

Young Harding worked on his grandfather's 
farm and attended the village school until he was 
fourteen, when he entered the Ohio Central Col- 
lege at Iberia. He worked his way through school 
by cutting corn, making brooms, ^^ following the 
cradle," as he himself tenned it, painting neigh- 



26 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

borhood barns, sheds and fences and helping to 
grade the road-bed of the Toledo & Ohio Central 
Railroad. As stated, he also played in the village 
band and assisted in editing the college paper at 
Iberia. 

A. L. B. Cunningham of Caledonia, one of his 
early teachers, says that Harding was big for his 
age and played with boys smaller than himself. 
''But he was always kind and good-natured, and 
everiybody tells) me that he is as good a man as I 
knew him as a boy. 

' ' One of the things I best remember about War- 
ren was buying brooms from him. When he was 
a small boy he used to get broom stalks from the 
farmers and then make the brooms. When he had 
done ten or a dozen he would start out to peddle 
them. Then he used to paint. There are a couple 
of old houses at Caledonia today that Warren 
painted, and barns and fences in the country. 
We show them to all the people that come to town. 

' ' W)arren was a good boy in school. Of course 
he used to get into mischief and did tricks like all 
other boys, but he was so honest that he always 
got caught. He was always honest and truthful. 
Having knoA\m him since he was six years old, he 
is always 'Warren' to me. Now, to think he is our 
President! I can scarcely believe it.^' 

James A, Boggs, who over forty years ago was 
also President Harding's school teacher in Bloom- 
ing Grove, when asked if he ever usecj the ''rod'' 
on young Harding, declared he was always a wqII- 



EABLY DAYS 27 

behaved boy in school. ^^When he came to the 
school I taught,'^ Mr. Boggs said, ^^he was a boy 
rather large for his age and was noticeable for his 
clean ways, manly spirit and straightforwardness. 
His voice was strong, well-toned and full. He took 
all his studies seriously but performed his tasks 
with astonishing ease. Although just an ordin- 
ary schoolboy, he was brighter than usual with 
lads of his age. He was so good in all his studies 
that it was hard to say in which he excelled. If 
I recall correctly he liked declamation best of all. 
He w^as a formidable antagonist in a debate or 
oratorical contest. ^ ^ 

It was his experience on the college paper that 
prompted young Harding to enter the office of 
the Caledonia Argus, the village weekly, as print- 
er's devil. Here he learned to set and throw in 
type, feed press, wash rollers, and the like. He 
also did some reporting. 

When nineteen years of age he moved with his 
parents to Marion, in an adjoining county, where 
his father took up the practice of medicine and 
Warren tried his hand at selling fire and life in- 
surance. He met with unusual success, as he ex- 
plains : 

** Just at this time a new hotel, to cost $30,000, 
was going up. This was a big sum to spend for a 
hotel in those days. I started after that business 
as the agent of three insurance companies. 
Strange to say, one of those interested in the 
property was my futur© father-in-law, Amos 



28 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

Kling, though I had not then met his daughter. I 
got the insurance on the hotel, but it was pure luck, 
as I discovered later. The rates had been raised 
in Marion, but I was regarded as so unimportant 
that they did not think it worth while to notify 
me, so my figures were the lowest by one-fourth of 
a cent. I received $600 in premiums. I didn't 
know that there was so much money in the world 
until then. ' ' 

His experience as a printer's devil at Caledonia 
and his editorial work at college prompted him to 
apply for a position on the Marion Mirror, a 
weekly Democratic newspaper, where he gathered 
news, helped in the mechanical department and as- 
sisted in numerous ways. This job, however, was 
short-lived, for he was discharged, as will be re- 
lated later. This proved a blessing in disguise, 
for it led to the purchase of the Marion Daily Star 
by himself and a fellow band player. 

With the enthusiasm of youth and the inspira- 
tion of one who has his foot upon the first rung 
of the ladder of his ambition, the young man bent 
his energies to the task of making the Star a 
beacon light to shine out of the darkness. He lived 
with it by day and ofttimes into the night. He 
dreamed of it. x\t times he performed every func- 
tion from apprentice to managing editor. But the 
story of how the Star grew is told elsewhere. 

At this point it may be of interest to quote 
what the Morroiv County Seyitinel had to say of 



EARLY DAYS 29 

the nomination of the presidential candidate who 
had his birth in that county : 

^^The proudest moment in Morrow County's 
history has come. A native son has been selected 
as the candidate of a great party for the highest 
office within the gift of the people. Forty years 
ago in a generation which has passed, Warren G. 
Harding read for the first time the doctrine of 
Republicanism in the Sentinel's columns. A 
president from Morrow County ! Why not? Sure- 
ly the community which gave to the church a 
Grunsaulus, to the bar and bench a Gurley and an 
Olds, could produce a president. 

^^Wjai^ren G. Harding's boyhood was not ma- 
terially different from that of other boys of the 
community. He simply made the most of his 
limited opportunities. He worked, obtained an 
education, and his life has demonstrated his su- 
perior industry, capacity, intelligence and leader- 
ship. Harding is worthy. He is just plain folks. ' ' 

Mr. Harding's removal to Marion, in which the 
mule referred to by Mr. Crissinger features, is 
best told by the President himself : 

*'My father had moved to Marion from a farm 
near Caledonia in the winter before I came. 
When he moved to Marion he left behind a mule 
because the mule was so well known in the vicin- 
ity that it could not be sold at a profit, and yet 
so valuable that he could not sacrifice it. So, 
when I came to Marion, the first of July, I was 



30 PBINTER TO PEESIDENT 

permitted to ride the mule, as it was the easiest 
way to get me there. 

* * I started early in the afternoon, but this mule 
had only one gait. You couldn't put him in 
second or third, and you couldn't step on the 
gas or anything. The evening shades were fall- 
ing when I reached the vicinity of the Roberts^ 
farm three or four miles out of Marion. The 
situation was looking dark to me and I stopped 
to ask an old fellow, who was smoking his pipe, 
how far it was to Marion. Without cracking a 
smile, he replied : ' Well, if you are going to ride 
that mule, it is a farther distance than you will 
ever get* 

*^As I neared the town the evening bells were 
ringing for the mid-week prayer. I do not know 
that I have ever heard a concert of bells that 
sounded so sweet." 



Ill 

ENTERS POLITICS 

Fired Because of Enthusiasm for "Plumed Knighf — First 
Speech When Mere Youth — Goes to State Senate — 
Becomes Lieutenant Governor — Elected United States 
Senator by Large Majority — Nominates Taft — Makes 
Keynote Speech — Then the Presidency 

Even prior to his connection with the Marion 
Daily Star President Harding took an interest in 
politics. It was his enthusiasm for the great 
Maine statesman, James G. Blaine, known as the 
*^plnmed knight, ^^ in the campaign of 1884, that 
caused his dismissal from the staff of the Demo- 
cratic weekly and led to his acquisition of the 
Star. 

He was still in his twenties when he delivered 
his first political speech. The county chairman 
had asked him to accompany a speaker to the vil- 
lage of Martel. On the way his companion dared 
him to make some introductory remarks. Insist- 
ing that he could not talk, he nevertheless reluct- 
antly consented. The meeting was in a school- 
house and the attendance was small. Without 
preparation young Harding launched forth in a 
way that took the audience, many of them Demo- 
crats, off their feet. They thought he was the 

31 



32 PEINTER TO PEESIDENT 

regular speaker, who, when his turn came, had 
difficulty in holding the crowd. After the Martel 
affair the campaign committee insisted that Hard- 
ing be placed on their regular list of speakers. 
His second speech was at a political rally at Scot- 
town Grove, to which in later days came Mc- 
Kinley, Foraker and others of national reputa- 
tion. 

An interesting narrative is related of Mr. Hard- 
ing in connection with his introduction of Joseph 
B. Foraker, who early showed a great fondness 
for him, at a political rally at Bellefontaine, Ohio. 
Mr. Harding was chairman of the meeting and 
presented Foraker, then Governor of the State, 
in a spirited ten-minute speech. Seated just in 
front of the stage and looking up intently at Mr. 
Harding was an old ground-in-the -faith Eepubli- 
can of Scotch-Irish parentage. After the meet- 
ing the old chap, grasping Mr. Harding by the 
hand, wrung it with warmth and exclaimed: 
'^ Young man, if I had your gift of gab I wouldn't 
be shy about using if 

In 1898 the counties of Hardin, Logan, Marion 
and Union elected the young editor to represent 
them in the Ohio Senate, where he served two 
terms and formed acquaintances that through 
strange caprice of fate had part in his nomination 
for the presidency. At the end of the second 
term he was elected Lieutenant Governor, but 
declining to become a candidate for a re-election 
he turned his entire attention to his newspaper 



ENTEES POLITICS 33 

until 1910, when he was nominated for Governor 
by his party, but went down with the entire ticket. 

In 1912, at President Taft's request, Mr. Hard- 
ing presented his name for re-nomination at Chi- 
cago. It was his first appearance before a Na- 
tional Convention of his party. He made a favor- 
able impression, paving the way to the crowning 
event eight years later. 

In 1914 he responded reluctantly to a persistent 
demand and entered the first senatorial primary 
in Ohio for the United States senatorship. He 
was nominated against two other candidates, one 
of whom was a former governor and former 
United States Senator, Joseph B. Foraker. 

Kr. Harding was elected by over one hundred 
thousand plurality. He was given unusual recog- 
nition by his colleagues of the Senate, being placed 
on the Foreign Relations Committee and made 
Chairman of the Committee on the Philippines. 

In 1916 he was Chairman of the Republican Na- 
tional Convention which nominated Justice 
Charles E. Hughes, and delivered the keynote 
speech, his eloquence adding to his fame as an 
orator and his address proving a valuable cam- 
paign document. Indeed, many of the principles 
then set forth formed the groundwork of the suc- 
cessful campaign of 1920. 

Four years later, on the afternoon of June 12, 
he Avas nominated for President by the Republican 
party, on his father's seventy- seventh birthday, 
and on November 2, his own fifty-fifth birthday, 



34 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

he was elected by the largest popular majority in 
the history of tlie nation. In addition to this 
unique experience, President Harding was the 
first member of either Senate or House to become 
president while serving in that capacity ; the first 
newspaper man to be elected to the presidency; 
the first Republican presidential candidate since 
reconstruction days to carry any state that se- 1 
ceded from the Union ; the first son of a veteran of ( 
the Civil War to become president ; the first man i 
born since the surrender of General Lee to be- 
come president; the first man to be elected presi- 
dent whose father was still leading an active busi- 
ness life; the first Baptist to be elected president;/ 

/ the first candidate for the presidency to be elected 

' with woman suffrage in full force. 

While many or most of the presidents have been 
occasional contributors to the press and maga- 
zines, President Harding is the first who was 
strictly a publisher, printer and editor before en- 
tering politics. 



IV 

OFFICE WITHOUT SEEKING 

Victim of Friends and Political Exigency — Drafted itv Practi- 
cally Every Contest — Daugherty^s Part in His Career — 
An Unwilling Candidate 

President Harding', altliougli active in politics, 
never of his own free will sought office. Circum- 
stances over which he had little control, coupled 
with talents and qualities peculiar to him, resulted 
in his entry as a political contestant in every race 
in which he figured — not because the office ap- 
pealed to him but because friends insisted or party 
emergency required. Friends or party exigency 
were always responsible for his candidacy. In 
j)racticariy every instance he was drafted as the 
best-fitted, most available, ^^ safest bet," and this 
was particularly so in his reluctant contest for 
the presidential nomination. 

With no thought of referring disparagingly to 
any other man who has mounted from humble be- 
ginning to the highest office, it is a fact that many 
of them early in their careers had office in mind, 
their ultimate goal being the presidency. This 
cannot be said of Mr. Harding, for it is the simple 
truth, as all those close to him know, that he did 
not seek the presidency. His modest ambition, or 

35 



36 PBINTER TO PRESIDENT 

inclination, did not extend that far. Thrust by- 
friends into Ohio's first senatorial primary, win- 
ning both the nomination and the election, but 
still the publisher and editor of a money-making 
Ohio newspaper, he had his hands full and was 
content. When importuned by friends of his own 
state as well as friends in other states to enter the 
contest for the Republican presidential nomina- 
tion, he demurred and yielded only when pressure 
and circumstances made it necessary for him so 
to do. 

The story of how he entered the presidential 
contest is best told by his most intimate friend and 
pre-convention campaign manager. Attorney Gen- 
eral Harry M. Daugherty, whose acquaintance 
with the President began in 1898 when the Presi- 
dent was running for the state senate from the 
Marion district and Mr. Daugherty was billed to 
speak with him near Richwood, Ohio. Their ac- 
f^quaintance had its start at that meeting. They 
'imet at the school house pump, where, as Daugh- 
erty tells, the future President was washing his 
muddy shoes. Mr. Harding was not billed to 
speak, but Daugherty asked him to, and his un- 
usually fine appearance, his clean-cut way of ex- 
pressing himself — although oratory was then new 
to him — ^his splendid diction, his voice, so im- 
pressed Daugherty that he said to himself: 
' ^ There 's a coming man. ' ' 

^^ During his two terms in the Ohio Senate, we 
came frequently in contact and the more I knew 



OFFICE WITHOUT SEEKING 37 

him the more I liked him — and the more he looked 
to me like a real ^ comer,' " relates Mr. Daugherty. 
' ' It was with keen pleasure that I w^as one of those 
who really forced him to run for Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor of Ohio." 

Mr. Daugherty further relates that in 1914, 
when the Republican party in Ohio began getthig 
on its feet again, it was at his instance that Mr. 
Harding entered the primary contest for United 
States Senator to succeed Senator Burton, who 
had declined to be a candidate for re-election. It 
was toward the close of the primary campaign and 
Harding was reluctant to enter, but Mr. Daugh- 
erty was insistent. He made several journeys to 
Marion and even to Florida, where Mr. Harding 
was enjoying a vacation; and he actually pushed 
him into the contest. Mr. Daugherty, whose po- 
litical insight is almost uncanny, practically as- 
sured Mr. Harding the nomination and although 
he was the third to enter, the other two candidates 
having a ''flying start, '^ he was nominated by a 
safe margin and the nomination was followed by 
election, by a vast majority. 

Continuing, Mr. Daugherty says: ''I had my 
eye on Harding for the presidency. 'He looks 
like a president,' was the way I reasoned. 'Once 
the delegates to a National Convention see and 
hear him, he will be in their minds for the nomi- 
nation at some future convention.' Therefore, 
friends of mine who reasoned likewise had much 



38 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

to do with his selection as Chairman of the 1916 
Republican National Convention. 

**As the Convention of 1920 approached I saw 
nothing to it but Harding. Harding, however, was 
content with the honors that had come to him ; he 
was sincere when he resisted all pleadings to per- 
mit his name to be used. But I was determined, 
and following the election of 1919 I went to Wash- 
ington and after two days' camping on Harding ^s 
trail — at his home, in his office, even at meals — 
I succeeded in securing permission to issue a state- 
ment above my own name that while Harding pre- 
ferred to run as United States Senator, he would 
listen to the call of the Republicans of his own 
state. It was only a half -acquiescence, given very 
reluctantly. Later I headed a delegation of Ohio 
Republicans in a trip to Wtishington, to prevail 
upon Harding to formally enter. At my sug- 
gestion a meeting of the Ohio Congressmen was 
held, and a resolution was unanimously adopted 
urging Harding to be a candidate for the presi- 
dency. The following day the Ohio boosters called 
on Harding at the Capitol. He received them in 
the marble room.''' 

The writer was among the delegates and re- 
calls Mr. Harding's intense embarrassment when 
the delegation broke into applause which subsided 
only when Mr. Harding's countenance indicated 
that the marble room of the staid and dignified 
United States Senate was no place for a demon- 
stration, but not, however, before the clamor had 



OFFICE WITHOUT SEEKING 39 

penetrated into the Senate claamber and inter- 
rupted a speech of Senator LaFollette. 

The Republican State Chairman of Ohio was 
present, by arrangement of Mr. Daugherty, and 
when the day came to a close Mr. Harding's con- 
sent to be a candidate for the Republican presi- 
dential nomination had been secured. Mr. Daugh- 
erty concludes : 

^ ^ AAvay back when Harding and I spoke on the 
same platform at Richwood, it da.\\med on me that 
he was a coming man, and it was not long until 
I saw that he was even of presidential timber. 
Time after time I told him so, only to be smiled 
at, and I had to convince Mrs. Harding before the 
Senator viewed the proposition seriously. '^ 

In this connection, the reader may be interested 
to peruse what George H. Van Fleet, general 
manager of the Marion Daily Star, who has been 
associated with Editor Harding from almost the 
beginning of the President's newspaper career, 
said in a signed editorial appearing in the Star 
inauguration day : 

^'Inaugurated with ceremonies of marked sim- 
plicity, Warren G. Harding today became the 
twenty-ninth President of the United States. 

''It has been the great privilege of the writer, 
as a result of an acquaintance of almost four 
decades, including a close association of almost 
three, to observe the transition from tjnpesetter in 
a country printing office at seventeen to President 
at fifty-five. The study of the advance, with 



40 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

here and there a temporary pause, has been fas- 
cinating in its interest. 

^^The printer is soon a publisher, is comman- 
deered for connty office by his party and defeated, 
is elected to the Ohio Senate, is chosen Lieutenant 
Governor, is defeated for Governor, is elected to 
the United States Senate, acts as Chairman of the 
Republican National Convention of 1916, is given 
an unprecedented vote by the nation and today 
becomes President. 

**In a land where attainment to high political 
honors comes through popular preferment such a 
transition does not come by chance, nor does it 
come to one who simply trails opportunity. It is 
possible only to one of merit and worth. 

*^It is possible only to one who builds and 
grows, day after day, week after week, year after 
.year, just as this practically self-taught boy of 
seventeen built and grew and battled for success 
for the joy of attainment, rather than the worldly 
emoluments which result therefrom. 

^^ There may be exceptions, but as a rule the 
man who attains such a success will be found to 
be a man among men, steadfast in friendship, 
straightforward, fair-minded, considerate of the 
rights of others, free from envy and jealousy, 
generous in thought and act, kindly in expression, 
temperate in all ways and unswerving for right 
because it is right. He will despise sham, hy- 
pocrisy, demogoguery. He will have a reverence 
for things holy and his religion will be a matter 



OFFICE WITHOUT SEEKING 41 

iof practice, rather than precept. He must be 
human and have a sense of humor. 

^'He must make mistakes, for otherwise he 
would be impossible. He must have a reasoning 
mind and possess a broad vision. He must have 
the moral courage to hold the common good of all 
above that of any class. He must be willing to 
take counsel, but must have the stamina to reserve 
to himself the right to weigh it. 

* ^ It is because our long association with Warren 
G. Harding enabled us to know him as he is that 
we felt that he would go as far as he has gone; 
it is. because we know him for what he is that we 
feel that he will carry on, ever weighing the 
thought and advice and counsel of today against 
the probable verdict of the future, for after all it 
is the verdict of posterity that gives the truest 
line on the measure of achievement.'^ 



ALL 'EOUND PEINTER 

What a Country Editor Must Be — Mr. Harding Proves He 
is One — Makes Up Forms and Puts Paper to Bed — 
Knows Job Printing Too 

Our ^'country editor" is a distinct type. There 
is a decided difference between the owner of a 
metropolitan newspaper or string of newspapers 
— and the owner of a newspaper in a town the size 
of Marion thirty years ago. For the chief task of 
the aA^erage metropolitan publisher is to own and 
perhaps direct, while the country editor must be 
all things from typesetter to payroll col] .or. 
The difference between a country editor, even in 
Marion today, and a metropolitan publisher, is 
much the same as between day and night. The 
metropolitan publisher has experts who conduct 
the various departments. He doesn^t have to be 
a practical printer. He doesn 't have to know any- 
thing practically about presses or linotypes. He 
•doesn't have to clean rollers. He wouldn't know 
*^t3^e lice" (and what real printer will ever for- 
get his first type lice, or the time when he was 
sent after pigeon milk?) if he met one face to face. 

On the other hand, to successfully conduct a 
small-town paper, like the Marion Daily Star^ in 

42 



ALL 'ROUND PEINTER 43 

its early, struggling days, it was necessary for 
the owner to be a t^^pesetter, a make-up man, a 
press feeder, in fact an all 'round printer ; also a 
reporter, editorial writer, proof reader, and in 
addition to all this, solicitor, collector, advertis- 
ing man and business manager. In other words, 
the average country editor has to be the whole 
thing, and that is exactly what Editor Harding 
was for over a quarter of a century. There was 
nothing about the print shop which he did not 
master and today, even with the business modern- 
ized, there is scarcely a department or bit of 
machinery with which he is not familiar. 

He early became a proficient compositor and 
can still sling type as fast as the average old- 
timer. He can ' ' feed ' ' a drum cylinder, a ^ ' double 
revolution" or the fastest jobber. He can make 
up and make ready. He can put the paper to bed, 
whether for the stereotyper or flat-bed press. He 
can even coax a balky gas engine to behave, he 
can lace belts and he knows by actual experience 
how to wash type, clean rollers and sweep out. 
In fact, all those are the very first things the 
country apprentice has to learn. And he knows 
all about printers' towels — especially the kind 
which will stand erect without support. 

In this connection the writer recalls a conver- 
sation between Mr. Harding and a railway worker, 
who apologized for his soiled hands. ^^My dear 
fellow," said Mr. Harding, with a generous smile. 



44 PEINTER TO PEESIDENT 

^' never mind your soiled hands. I am a printer. 
Did you ever see a printer with clean hands T' 

Shortly before inauguration, one of the '^best 
minds," on a visit to Marion, questioned the Presi- 
dent-elect about ''putting a paper to bed.'^ 

''What does that mean?" inquired the visitor. 

"Why, it means making up and locking the 
forms as each type page is closed," replied Hard- 
ing. 

"Well," said the guest, "that's all Greek to 
me." 

"Would you like to be shown?" asked Harding. 

"Sure," responded the guest, who was not 
from Missouri, either. 

"Come with me, then," said Harding, and sum- 
moning Frank, the family chauffer, he directed 
that he and his guest be driven to the office of 
the Star, 

It was near the press hour. The astonishment 
of the Star force can be imagined when Mr. Hard- 
\ngy entering the composing room with his guest, 
pulled off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. 
Eeaching into his trousers pocket and bringing 
forth a 13-em make-up rule, he explained to the 
superintendent that he was going to give his guest 
an actual demonstration of putting a paper to bed, 
and at once started to work on the final pages for 
that day's paper. With the dexterity of an expert 
he transferred type and linotype matter from 
galleys into incomplete columns, shifted and trans- 
posed her© and there to ^et correct adjustment, 



ALL 'EOUND PRINTER 45 

carefully followed the news editor ^s dummy, in- 
serted leads between articles and lines to make the 
columns tight, then used the ^'planer," finally 
locking each page and helping the make-up table 
on itsi way to the stereotyper. And not one 
^'Dutchman'' (end of a match or toothpick) did 
he use, either. 

With perspiration rolling down his face he gave 
the fullest evidence of his ability as a make-up 
man. Then, to add good measure, he followed the 
stereotyped pages to the press room, and com- 
pleted putting the paper to bed in every detail. 

^* Well, I swear, ^^ remarked the ''best mind," as 
they were driven back to the front porch, *'you 
surely have shown me. I shall never forget how a 
paper is put to bed.'' 

The guest had in his hand a copy of the Star, 
the final pages of which the next president of the 
United States had made up, and it goes without 
saying that the copy will be preserved as a very 
worth-while memento. 

While the President-elect was engaged in mak- 
ing up forms, he excused himself for a moment 
and hunting up Lew Miller, aged 75 years — a 
printer with whiskers of the vintage of 1884 who 
has been in the composing room of the Star 
since that time — Mr. Harding ''bummed'' a chew 
of tobacco. 

"If you had a dollar for every chew I have 
bummed from you," said the candidate, "you'd 
be rich, wouldn't you?" 



46 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 



a 



1 11 say so, ' ' replied Miller. 

^^Well/' remarked Mr. Harding as he bit off 
from the ''plug" which Miller pulled from his 
hip pocket, ' ' this is a scene the movie fellows are 
missing. ' ' 

Eef erring to Mr. Harding's all 'round experi- 
ence as a printer and editor, some other incidents 
are interesting. 

Several years ago, between trains in an Indiana 
town, he strolled into a newspaper office and, visit- 
ing the mechanical department, found that one 
of the linotypes was minus an operator, on a<5- 
count of illness. The foreman was in great dis- 
tress whereupon, without revealing his identity, 
Mr. Harding volunteered to help out. His ser- 
vices were cheerfully accepted, the machine was 
soon humming and he really set up a couple of 
galleys of copy. 

After the paper had gone to press the foreman 
sought to engage him, whereupon he presented his 
card, which revealed to the astonished foreman 
that the volunteer linotype operator was none 
other than a distinguished member of the United 
States Senate. 

During the pre-convention period in Ohio, and 
following a meeting at Steubenville, Mr. Harding 
reached East Liverpool about midnight to catch a 
train. Having an hour or so to kill, he visited the 
office of the East Liverpool Review. It seems 
that an important portion of the Senator's Steu- 
benville speech had not reached the Review in a 



ALL 'ROUND PEINTER 47 

legible condition, and the editor appealed to the 
Senator to revise the copy, which at the time 
was in the hands of the linotype operators. 

Together they proceeded to the composing room 
and it happened that the very portion in question 
was in process of being set. 

''I'll tell you what I'll do," said Senator Hard- 
ing, "I'll just sit down, if the operator has no 
objection, and set it up myself. That will save 
time and give me some practice." 

To prove his eligibility he showed his typo- 
graphical union card and his make-up rule, then 
gave a real demonstration of a United States 
Senator operating a linotype, perhaps the first 
time any member of the dignified upper branch of 
Congress ever linotyped a portion of one of his 
own speeches. 

When it comes to typical country editors, Hard- 
ing is there in all respects — and a modern one, 
too. He is not only a union printer, but a job 
printer too. In connection with his newspaper he 
has a fully equipped department for commercial 
printing, the superintendent of which has been in 
his employ for over thirty years. He was the 
first presidential candidate in the history of the 
country who had advance copies of his campaign 
speeches printed in his own establishment. And 
he read proof on every one of them. 

He knows all about commercial printing, and is 
familiar with the intricacies of estimating, from 
the price of a public sale bill to the most elaborate 



48 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

catalogue. In common with thousands of other 
print shop owners, he experienced to the full the 
tough sledding of the several war years, with 
paper nearly trebled in price, and all other items 
connected with the business more than doubled. 
The newspaper business, as he himself remarked 
at a meeting of Ohio editors, suffered greater 
hardships during the War than any other busi- 
ness, yet in no instance did the profession come 
under the suspicion of profiteering. 



VI 

ADVERTISING 

His Own Solicitor — Succeeded hy Same Methods That Won 
in Political Career — Friendly Counsel — Made the Star 
Best Small Town Advertising Medium in State — Made 
Advertising Prosperous 

^' You can't afford not to/' said Editor Harding 
to a merchant who had declared he could not 
afford to advertise. 

^'If you do not advertise, your competitor will 
use advertising as a club to beat off your business 
head," continued the Editor, acting as his own 
advertising solicitor. 

His argument, it is reliably related, so con- 
vinced the hesitating merchant that he plunged 
into the columns of the Marion Daily Star with 
full force and today, as he himself confesses, has — 
as a result of extensive advertising in Editor 
Harding's newspaper — one of the most up-to-date, 
prosperous department stores in central Ohio. It 
was Editor Harding's clear-cut, earnest, persuas- 
ive reasoning — the same sort he employs so 
effectively as President — that induced practically 
every Marion merchant to use the columns of his 
newspaper. ^^His convincing argument won us 
all, one after the other," said one of his long- time 

49 



50 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

advertisers to the writer. ^*And once we began 
we couldn't stop, though so far as that is con- 
cerned, I for one never had any desire to stop. ' ' 

As advertising solicitor, Editor Harding had 
various methods, but his most successful one was 
to meet with his prospective customer after busi- 
ness hours, after a good dinner or while smoking 
the evening cigar. He would then go into the full 
subject of advertising and discuss its value in 
relation to the special business of the customer in 
question. Often he would submit a series of ad- 
vertisements carefully prepared and actually set 
up in type, covering a proposed campaign, and, in 
cases where the merchant continued dubious and 
hesitating, offer the advertising on a contingent 
basis, to cost nothing unless the advertiser's busi- 
ness reached a certain fixed sum in consequence. 
No deaf ear was ever turned to such a proposition, 
and soon the columns of the Star teemed with 
snappy advertising. 

In all such instances, especially where he was 
his own solicitor, Mr. Harding realized that he 
must make good, and he gave every attention and 
assistance in the preparation of the advertise- 
ments. He contributed his best counsel, went over 
the individual problems of the advertisers and 
personally aided ijypographically and otherwise. 
It is no exaggeration to state that by his own 
energy Editor Harding made his journal, con- 
sidering the size of Marion, one of the very best 



ADVERTISING 51 

advertising mediums in Ohio — and one of the best 
money makers also. 

At the time when Harding took possession of 
the Star J it was of course a weekly field pure and 
simple, and the merchants who ran '^ads'^ once 
each week did so in a half-hearted, reluctant man- 
ner, in many instances simply because the editor 
had agreed ^*to trade it out.'' Few of them be- 
lieved it paid. Indeed, so little were the mer- 
chants of those days impressed with the value of 
advertising that frequently ^*ads" would remain 
unchanged for months. The files of the old Mirror 
(Democratic weekly) and the old Independent 
(Republican weekliy) will disclose advertisements 
for the sale of straw hats in November and Christ- 
mas advertising in January. 

This was the situation that confronted young 
Harding, embryo journalist and publisher, and he 
had a task to change Marion, with its small popu- 
lation, from the weekly to the daily class ; to edu- 
cate the public to read the news daily ; but harder 
still, to induce the merchants to advertise each 
and every day instead of once each week. Only 
those who have tried to convert a merchant of the 
once-a-week class, one who doesn't believe in ad- 
vertising anyhow, to the snappy, modern style of 
daily advertising, realize fully the task. But Edi- 
tor Harding quickly perceived the necessity of 
accomplishing this very thing. He could not hope 
to succeed with the income from even a maximum 
circulation. He had either to fill the four yawning 



52 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

pages of his gasping publication each day or see 
it go to the wall. Well, the Marion Daily Star 
never went to the wall, and the fact that for years 
it has been considered by Ohio newspapermen the 
best little example of newspaper advertising in 
the state bespeaks the success of Editor Harding 
as an expert advertising man. 

During a visit to Rochester, New York, he unex- 
pectedly received an invitation to address the 
Rochester Ad Club at a noon-day luncheon. Hav- 
ing had some thirty-eight years' genuine experi- 
ence in the advertising game, he was in his ele- 
ment, and not only enjoyed thoroughly the oppor- 
tunity and the subject, but left with the members 
of the club something worth while to think about. 

Yet, strange as it may seem, a man with such 
experience, who knows the advertising game from 
A to Z, who knows its value and all its angles, has 
never applied publicity to himself personally, or 
to his own business. It was a common remark of 
veteran newspapermen during the campaign that 
his personal appreciation of publicity was prac- 
tically nil. Trained as he w^as in the game, they 
marvelled at his lack where he himself was con- 
cerned. They could not understand how a lifelong 
newspaperman, who had preached publicity to 
others, was so everlastingly modest and self- 
effacing personally. Not only has he never util- 
i;z;ed advertising for himself politically, but the 
files of the Dail^ Star will reveal that no self- 
advertising was ever indulged in. The Star never 



ADVERTISING 53 

blew itsi own horn, although at the time it came 
into the possession of young Harding and his 
silent partner, Warwick, both were horn-blowers 
in the Marion Cornet Band. 



vn 

SUCCESS IN JOURNALISM 

Typical of His Public Career—Story of the Marion Daily 
Star Reads Like Romance— Early Traits and Practices 
as Country Editor Prove of Value to Nation 

An outstanding feature of the career of Presi- 
dent Harding is that it distinctly squares with that 
of the average American, or, for better compari- 
son, with that product peculiar to America, the 
** country editor,'^ of whom there are hundreds in 
every state of the union, and among whom there is 
a degree of patriotism unsurpassed by any class 
anywhere. For, be it known, the country editor 
preaches patriotism, inculcates true Americanism 
and champions every patriotic cause earnestly 
and fearlessly week after week, the whole year 
around, and in this respect performs a service 
to the public the value of which cannot be over- 
estimated. Just this sort of country editor has 
been and is Mr. Harding, for he is still the pub- 
lisher of the same newspaper which came into his 
possession away back in 1884, the year that James 
G. Blaine made the first swing around the presi- 
dential circle. 

Mr. Harding's success in the field of journalism, 
which he chose for himself when a mere youth of 

54 



SUCCESS IN JOURNALISM 55 

nineteen, was due primarily to close application, 
careful management, unusual business judgment 
and tireless energy, combined with the personality 
which has served him effectively in all his under- 
takings. 

To fully appreciate the unusual achievement of 
Mr. Harding, it must be borne in mind that he 
was a mere youth with only a few months' experi- 
ence as a printer's apprentice and reporter when 
he took possession, in a rural town of less than 
four thousand population, of a precarious news- 
paper project in a field already adequately occu- 
pied — the two political organs abundantly repre- 
senting the constituency of both the leading 
parties. 

At that time — 1884, — as well as now for that 
matter, a daily publication in a town the size and 
environment of Marion was the height of folly. 
On an average of four to a family, Marion pos- 
sessed less than a thousand homes or families 
and if the Daily Star in its fondest ambition, ful- 
filling the claims of the most fantastic circulation 
prevaricator, entered every home in Marion, was 
read by every family in the town — that meant a 
circulation of only 1,000; and at a subscription 
rate of ten cents a week (which for many years 
was collected every Saturday night by a half- 
dozen newsboys in charge of the editor's 
"wife, Mrs. Harding) there was, with each and 
every subscriber paying promptly and in full, the 



56 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

gross sum of $100 per week, out of which the news- 
boys, of course, got their meager share. 

The bald truth is, with a field already filled to 
overflowing, the Marion Daily Star did not at that 
time circulate in all the homes, nor in half the 
homes, and it was up to Editor Harding to develop 
other sources of income, which he soon did by 
establishing a job printing department, and 
through advertising, — which is a story within 
itself, told elsewhere. 

The youthful editor's parents had just moved 
to Marion from an adjoining county. The father 
had established himself as the village physician, 
with prospects far from encouraging, and it was 
incumbent upon Warren G. to get busy on his 
own hook. He found himself overwhelmed with 
ambition to be a journalist, although it was not 
so called at the time. At the office of the Demo- 
cratic Mirror he was taken on as a combination re- 
porter and printer at the then customary terms, 
one dollar per week, to be increased to two dol- 
lars per week eventually, perhaps when some 
other employe quit, died or was fired. Don't 
smile, dear reader, and say * ^ impossible, ' ' for the 
writer knows whereof he speaks, as does every- 
one who a quarter of a century or so ago entered 
the printing and newspaper profession in ye small 
country town. 

Young Harding, as has been told, did not remain 
long on the payroll of the Democratic Mirror, be- 
ing discharged for ' ' pernicious political activity. ' ' 



SUCCESS IN JOURNALISM 57 

It was during the famous Blaine-Cleveland cam- 
paign of 1884 and Harding, even in his youth an 
ardent, enthusiastic Republican, soon joined a 
Blaine and Logan Club. At nights he marched in 
^torchlight parades and one day even wore to work 
the famous Blaine plug hat (which, by the way, is 
still one of his treasured possessions). This was 
an egregious blunder, for his employers were 
hard-boiled ''bourbon Democrats" of the deepest 
dye, and they discharged him on the spot. 

The Daily Star, which had been recently launch- 
ed on the uncertain sea of Marion journalism by 
the transient peddler, was head over heels in debt 
and could be had for a mere ''song." Young 
Harding, pooling his savings with a chum, Jack 
Warwick, took over the dubious enterprise, liabil- 
ities and all. 

It is not the writer ^s intention to chronicle 
further the history of the Marion Daily Star, save 
that it never missed an issue after Harding took 
charge. Although his previous experience was of 
a most limited character he managed to keep his 
little daily going. He quickly mastered the vari- 
ous fundamentals and applying the simple rudi- 
ments of economy and hard sense, paid off the 
indebtedness, and with the town^s rapid growth — 
in which it is generally admitted he had no small 
part — the enterprise within a year or so began to 
prosper. 

Some time before his nomination Senator Hard- 
ing said to a man who jokingly proposed to buy 



58 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

the Star that it would take all of $200,000. Fol- 
lowing his election he was offered much above that 
sum for his interest. **And to think,'' he re- 
marked shortly before inauguration, *'that there 
w^as a day when the paper was bought for just 
three hundred dollars.'' 

* * I am convinced more than ever that the publi- 
cation of a clean, decent, fearless newspaper is the 
finest occupation in the world," was President 
Harding's comment after a year in the White 
House. 

The Marion Daily Star now averages fourteen 
pages daily with a double number Saturdays, in- 
cluding a comic supplement. Its circulation is 
about fifteen thousand. The newspaper plant is 
equipped with eight linotype machines and the 
body type is eight-point, formerly termed ^'bre- 
vier." The conservative style of headlines is 
used and although modem in all respects, the 
policy has always been against the sensational. 
The paper is printed on a four deck perfecting 
press and, together with a job printing depart- 
ment, the plant is in a modest two-story brick 
building. At the outbreak of the World War 
the *^ Harding Publishing Company'^ had planned 
the construction of a new newspaper building 
across the street, which will probably be delayed 
until President Harding returns to Marion after 
having served the country. 

Even when the Star was in its early struggles 
its owner began paying higher wages than his 



SUCCESS IN JOURNALISM 59 

competitors, and this rule was followed in later 
years. The paper has never had an hour of labor 
trouble and among the first organizations to en- 
dorse Senator Harding for the Presidency was 
the Marion Typographical Union. It was the 
first newspaper in Ohio, and perhaps in America 
to adopt the co-operative plan, of making all em- 
ployes stockholders. 



VIII 
TRAINING AS COUNTRY EDITOR 

Still Serves in White House — Early Rising — Morning Hour 
Work — Prefaces Utterances With Pencil — His Own Per- 
sonal Appraisal as a Publisher and Newspaper Man — 
Lord Northcliffe^s Tribute. 

A custom acquired by him in his days of jour- 
nalism served him well during and after the 
campaign, and still serves him in the White 
House. As a country editor he soon learned that 
the best time to do his editorial work was during 
the early hours of the morning and whenever 
possible in the quiet of his home, knowing that 
when he reached his newspaper office downtown 
there would be a multitude of unexpected things 
to occupy his attention. With the daily grist of 
editorials and his share of news writing out of 
the way, in his days of strenuous journalism, he 
found himself ready to take up the regular routine 
and unexpected matters, with his time made free 
by work accomplished in the late and early hours. 

Following such practice during the campaign, 
with pencil in hand and pad on knee. Candidate 
Harding was able, en route oil train as well as in 
M^arion, to prepare the careful, deliberate utter- 
ances that so delighted and impressed the Nation. 

60 



COUNTRY EDITOR 61 

This important work attended to at early and late 
hours — when most people are asleep — he was in 
position to receive callers, hold conferences and 
attend to other matters, unhampered by accumu- 
lated detail. 

In addition to his newspaper interests Presi- 
ident Harding is identified with a number of enter- 
prises in Marion. He is a director in a bank, 
several manufactures, and is a trustee of Trinity 
Baptist Church. He has been abroad three times 
and once to the Hawaiian Islands, where he went 
in a senatorial capacity. 

Discussing his long career in journalism, the 
President has said: 

^^ Having spent all of my life from very young 
manhood to my entrance into the Senate as a 
newspaper o^vner, I feel a great pride in the part 
I have had as a newspaper publisher. 

^'I am only the publisher of an interior daily 
paper, sometimes called a country paper. But if 
I had my life to live over, mth all the experiences 
which have come to me, I would not change my 
profession or my occupation, nor would I alter 
the policy which has characterized the publication 
with which I have so long been associated. In 
thirty-seven years of newspaper connections I 
have never once allowed my paper to make mani- 
fest a suggestion of revenge in my own heart, and 
if there is one thing that contributed most to my 
modest success as a publisher it is because the 



62 PEINTER TO PEESIDENT 

paper always was on a higher plane than getting 
even. 

^ ^ I wonder if men who write have ever stopped 
to think or even dream of the call for human at- 
tributes and sober judgment and sane dealing that 
comes to the average daily newspaper publisher 
in touch with every angle of his business, called 
upon to pass on every problem. You have human 
ailments and human ills and human woe and every 
human appeal on the one hand; you have the 
saving of good names on the other ; you have the 
promotion of enterprise and protective activities 
on still another. You have the maintenance of 
confidence and the stabilizing of public opinion on 
still another. It is so varied that one must be in 
touch with all of it. That is why I think the man 
who is tolerant and without revenge, who holds 
himself above purely personal things and does 
what he thinks for the common good, who bases 
all his policies on frankness, fullest justice, is [ 
always sure of a measurable degree of success. j^ 

Lord Northcliffe, late British publisher, in a 
copyrighted article gave his impression of Presi- 
dent Harding: 

^ * Over six feet in height, broad-shouldered, with 
a torso like that of a Greek athlete, regular fea- 
tures, square jaw, small hands and feet, and ease 
of strength in his movements, he is probably the 
most physically attractive man in the long list 
of presidential residents at the White House. 

** There is no pose, no affection of simplicity, 



COUNTRY EDITOR 63 

for he is simple without affectation. He is con- 
scious of the great power and dignity of his posi- 
tion, but he wears that consciousness as though 
he had been trained from youth to wear the 
mighty burden that lies on his shoulders today. 

^*0n the President's desk lay a copy of his news- 
paper, the Marion Daily Star, with a simple slip 
address such as is used by American newspapers 
sent through the post. President Harding is 
probably prouder of that newspaper than any- 
thing else he has done, for he made it, and in mail- 
ing it learned the ways of human kind. No man 
can achieve the difficult task of creating a success- 
ful daily newspaper without finding out a great 
deal about human nature, with its strength and 
its weaknesses, its good sides and its bad, and, 
above all, the redeeming virtue of simple kindli- 
ness and common sense in human affairs. 

**I could not help thinking as he spoke of his 
early life studies, of law work, as an insurance 
writer, and finally as a journalist and newspaper 
proprietor, how singularly his training had fitted 
him for his present task. 

** There was an almost wistful note in his voice 
when he described how the thing that gives him 
the most pleasure in life, pleasure that never 
stales, is to stand in the mechanical department 
during the last hour before his paper goes to 
press. 

^^The rush and emotion of making up the last 
page, of doing the work or seeing that it is done 
swiftly and well, the sense of triumph that is 



64 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

born when a well-made page is ready for the foun- 
dry, and the pride of achievement as the presses 
begin to hum and the first copies are sped on 
their way to distributing centers ! 

''It is characteristic of the man that he has 
made his newspaper a co-operative undertaking 
in which editors, managers and heads of mechan- 
ical departments are shareholders, taking their 
proportion of the profits in addition to salaries. 
'Sometimes,' said the President, 'I think they do 
better when I am not there. They work splendid- 
ly as a team and are proud of their work.' " 



IX 

EIEST LADY OF THE LAND 

Weds Banker's Daughter and Wins Circulation Manager — 
Wife's Vital Part in Husbands s Career — Nation-wide 
Popularity as First Lady of the Lund 

In 1891 Editor Harding was married to Flor- 
ence Kling, daughter of Amos Kling, of Marion, 
and inestimable credit is due Mrs. Harding for 
her share in her husband's business and political 
success. 

Mr. Kling was a banker and one of the richest 
men in Marion. Young Harding, then struggling 
to make prosperous a newspaper that had been 
a failure, met Miss Kling at a dance. Mr. Kling 
opposed the match which sprang from this meet- 
ing, threatening to cut his daughter off without a 
cent if she wed in defiance of his will. The two 
were married, nevertheless, and for seven years 
the father-in-law refused to meet his son. Mrs. 
Harding, who by her business ability had been of 
great aid to her father in his business, went into 
the newspaper office, beca^me the circulation man- 
ager and assisted in practically every department. 
The rapid growth in circulation and otherwise 
bespeaks the success that attended her efforts. 

She was born in Marion, where she attended 

65 



66 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

the public schools, and afterward studied music 
at the Cincinnati Conservatory. 

Having been reared in a small community where 
her entire life has been spent, with the exception 
of a few years at Washington, she is a woman of 
plain and simple tastes, yet smart-looking. She 
wears her clothes well, her manner is pleasing and 
very genial. She is affable, can entertain for an 
indefinite time and never speaks unkindly of any- 
one. As a diplomat she is serving well the Chief 
Executive. Her popularity as *^ first lady of the 
land'^ is nation-wide. 

While she was proud and happy when her hus- 
band secured the presidential nomination, it is a 
well-known fact that she had been reluctant to 
have him enter the race. On the day of his elec- 
tion she said, *^ Being a Senator's wife suited 
me better. It is a quiet life, a pleasant one, and 
the problems are not so huge. I like it. I really 
like it better than I'll like to be in the White 
House.*' 

She keenly enjoys newspaper work and ever 
feels kindly toward representatives of the press. 
She recently remarked: ^^I love the newspaper 
fraternity. I have talked with a great many of 
them during the campaign and since, and not one 
of them has ever betrayed me." 

When asked if she had any fad, she is quoted 
as saying: **I have only one fad, the only one 
I have had for over thirty years — and that is my 



FIRST LADY OF THE LAND 67 

husband. It is old-fashioned, I know, but that is 
the way I feel about it/' 

As previously stated, Mrs. Harding took her 
place beside her husband in the newspaper office 
following their marriage, and organized the de- 
partment of circulation, hiring the newsboys and 
settling with them in person. Several times in the 
early period, I happened in Marion on a Saturday 
night, and recall seeing her in the stuffy Star 
offiiCe, adjoining the press room, surrounded by 
ragamufhn lads, patient in the midst of their boy- 
ish clatter, going over their accounts, ironing out 
their difficulties and giving them advice as to 
courtesjy, collections, delivery of their papers, etc. 
Today many of these boys are successful business 
and professional men who owe their first knowl- 
edge of salesmansMp to instruction given them as 
newsboys by Florence Harding. One of them is 
now a military aide at the White House. Although 
scattered to all parts of the country, one Sunday 
morning during the campaign a number of them 
gathered in Marion and enjoyed a delightful hour 
on the famous front porch, in reunion with their 
former employers. 

Mrs. Harding is well fitted for the duties of a 
President's mfe, has a mind of her own, is a true 
helpmate, thoroughly democratic, knows how to 
talk to everyone and once knowing you, always 
knows you. 

President and Mrs. Harding's thirtieth wedding 
celebration occurred in the White House and was 



68 PEINTEE TO PEESIDENT 

quietly observed, with only a few intimate Marion 
friends present. They were married in the house 
that the President had built, the house with the 
famous front porch, the construction of which 
Mrs. Harding superintended. Next door resided 
the Christians and George B. Christian, Jr., 
played an important part, acting as doorkeeper, 
thus foreshadowing his duties as Secretary at the 
White House. 



A TALISM.AN 

Printer's Thirteen-em Make-up Rule as Luck Piece— -Never 
Without It— Good Fortune Throughout Campaignr—Fair 
Weather Favored Every Front Porch Event— Miraculous 
Escape from Train Catastrophe 

For years Mr. Harding has carried in his 
trousers pocket a printer's 13-em make-up rule— 
a thin bit of sheet steel about two and a half 
inches in length. It is the same make-up rule he 
himself used in making up the forms of the Star. 
To him it has been a luck piece with which he 
would be loath to part. The writer doubts if it 
will ever be replaced with the one of solid gold 
presented election night by his business associ- 
ates and employes, much as the gift delighted and 
affected him. 

/ Good fortune has attended him ever since the 
Vmake-up rule became a pocket-piece. He has car- 
ried it in all his campaigns, and while just one 
of the campaigns ended disastrously, the truth is 
that defeat proved good fortune, for it paved the 
way to the United States Senate, and his election 
as Senator, as events have demonstrated, led di- 
rectly to the presidency itself. 

Whether due to the pocket-piece, it is a fact 

69 



70 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

that from the moment of his nomination to inaug- 
uration not an event — front porch, trips or other- 
wise — was marred by bad weather. Not a drop 
of rain fell on any occasion at Marion, although 
the season was an unusually rainy one, and the 
inaugural day was perfect. It was a remarkable 
circumstance that every front porch delegation 
should be favored with fair weather, equally re- 
markable that the same weather conditions pre- 
vailed everywhere on the several trips through- 
out the countrj^. Included also is the motor trip 
in early July from Washington to Marion and 
the few other journeys by motor, on all of which 
of course he carried his unique little talisman. 

Coincident as it may be, on one front porch 
event after election, when a delegation came from 
a southern state to extend an invitation, it was a 
blizzardy day in December, cloudy, with flurries 
of snow, but no sooner did Mr. and Mrs. Harding 
make their appearance than the sun came out in 
splendor. The incident was remarked liy all, in- 
cluding the Vice President-elect, who happened to 
be present. Asked if he still had his luck piece, 
his printer's rule, Mr. Harding replied, ^^Sure 
thing I'' 

The last front porch event occurred March 2, 
two days before the inauguration, when neighbors 
turned out and pathetically bade their beloved 
townsmen and his equally beloved helpmate fare- 
well and Godspeed. Fair weather again pre- 
vailed, and the Daily Star thus commented on it: 



A TALISMAN 71 

WAUM ENOUGH TODAY TO GO WITHOUT AN OVER- 
COAT—THUNDER AND LIGHTNING EARLY 
TODAY— WHO CARES? 



Well, well, who would have thought anything like it 
could have happened? It thundered and lightened early this 
morning to beat the band. 

Today the sky was overcast, but for the greater part of 
the day the weather was ideal. It was warm and nice, and 
what more would a feller want at this season of the year? 
To the last, Marion had ideal front porch weather. 

On one occasion, when Mr. Harding's life and 
the lives of Mrs. Harding and others of their 
party were spared by a hair's breadth, a minis- 
ter of the gospel, who was on the tran, solemnly 
averred it was Providence. This narrow escape 
occurred on one of his trips, when defective 
trucks caused the private car to leave the rails. A 
secret service man, happening on the rear plat- 
form, discovered the derailment and immediately 
pulled the brake cord. As he did so, he observed 
to his consternation that the train had started 
across a hundred-foot trestle, spanning a gully 
forty feet deep. He knew it would be impossible 
to stop the train in time and involuntarily gasped 
a prayer, expecting the coach to topple over into 
the gully below, with its crags and rocks. He 
thought of the occupants of the car and what a 
catastrophe it would be. He closed his eyes in 
awful contemplation of it all — then the next mo- 
ment rejoiced to find the coach, although off the 



72 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

rails, bounding across the ties in safety, protected 
as it was by the guard rail of the trestle. 

Mr. Harding was sitting near a window 
and realized what had happened when a vase of 
flowers toppled over just as the coach started 
across the trestle. He afterward told that he ex- 
pected to be plunged into the gully, but a news- 
paper correspondent with whom he was convers- 
ing at the time said he displayed no excitement, 
but coolly joined the passengers and crew in an 
inspection of the damage. Indicative of the high 
speed at which they were going, the train was not 
stopped until the derailed coach had been dragged 
several feet beyond the trestle, splintering 
scores of ties in its sojourn off the track. 
The damaged ties of the trestle and marks of the 
wheels on the guard rails showed clearly how near 
the coach came to dropping into the gully. 

Fully composed, Mr. Harding calmly inspected 
the broken trucks and consoled the engineer who 
came back to investigate by saying to him: **Do 
not be distressed." To the conductor he said: 
^^We'll just move into the car ahead; the train 
can proceed and little time will be lost." Calling 
Mrs, Harding, who was in the private car, he in- 
formed her: ^'Pack up our things; we're going 
to move." 

Returning to the car, he helped in the * * mov- 
ing. " Then, to accommodate the movie men, he 
reappeared on the scene of the accident and posed 
at their suggestion for several pictures. 



4 

A TALISMAN 73 

When an onlooker remarked, ** There must be a 
jinx or hoodoo around,'' Mr. Harding quickly re- 
torted, **You mean a mascot/' Some one close 
by asserted that he was clasping the famous 
make-up rule at the time. 

The first delegation to call and congratulate 
Mr. Harding on his election as President of the 
United States was his own force of the Marion 
Daily Star — fellow stockholders, lifelong business 
associates and employes, men and women, up- 
ward of fifty in all. They came at the '^supper" 
hour. They came early because they wanted to be 
the first to extend congratulations; they had 
known all the time that his election was a cer- 
tainty — not one of the Star organization, from 
Managing Editor George Van Fleet down to the 
^' devil," had the slightest doubt of the result 
from the moment of his nomination. 

Long before election day they had decided 
upon a token of esteem to go with their con- 
gratulations, and the jeweler who designed and 
engraved it had equal confidence that his work 
was not in vain. A gold 13-em make-up rule, in- 
scribed with the date of his election, and a blank 
space in which to engrave his re-election four 
years hence, was the token that the force brought 
from the Star office to accompany their congratu- 
lations, and the call was made just as soon as suf- 
ficient returns had been received to justify it. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harding were dining at the time, 
with a few friends who were to be their guests 



74 PKINTER TO PRESIDENT 

during the eventful evening. Summoned to the 
front porch, they had a most touching surprise 
when they found themselves surrounded by their 
associates and fellow-workers, some of them em- 
ployes of more than a quarter of a century. 

The spokesman read a short address of con- 
gratulation, and accompanied it with the presen- 
tation of the gold make-up rule. To Mr. Harding, 
whose triumphant election was about to be pro- 
claimed throughout the land and whose mind was 
doubtless filled with the struggles of his youth, of 
the many trying hours of his career as a printer 
and publisher, his years of association with those 
about him, and the momentous transition that it 
all meant, with responsibilities beyond human 
calculation, the incident was most impressive. 
His voice choked, his mouth twitched, his face 
puckered as it never had since the dajs of his 
childhood, and though it was, as it should have 
been, the happiest moment of his life, the great 
commanding figure in the affairs of the nation, 
\ the President-elect, actually sobbed. With tears 
/coursing down his cheeks, he said : 

**You and I have been associated together for 
\ many years. I know you and you know me. I 
^^ am about to be called to a position of great re- 
sponsibility. I have been on the square with you 
and I want to be on the square with all the world. " 

Calling one of the veteran members of the 
Star staff by name, he said: *' There is my old 
friend Miller, the oldest employe of the Star. 



A TALISMAN 75 

Thirty-six years we have been together and 
sometimes those years have been thorny. Some- 
times Miller has drawn his pay that I had to bor- 
row from my own mother. Sometimes, the next 
morning, I have had to borrow back from Miller 
the pay he drew the day before. ^^ 

Eeferring to the gift, Mr. Shoemaker, the 
spokesman, said: *^We wish to present you this 
'make-up* rule, the emblem of the printer *s trade. 
We trust that the future * make-up' and building 
up of this great country will be as easily and 
efficiently accomplished by you as when you were 
* make-up' man on the Star/^ 

The speaker also commented upon the fact that 
the day marked the fifty-fifth anniversary of the 
birth of the President-elect. 



XI 

ETHICS 

Always Observed Them — Never Ceasing Courtesy Toward 
Competitors — Shunned Editorial Controversy — Followed 
Life-Long Eules of Marion Daily Star During Campaigns 

As publisher, Editor Harding always observed 
the established ethics of the profession. In addi- 
tion, he adhered to rules of his own. One of these, 
which he early adopted and from which he never 
, deviated, was that of never-failing courtesy to- 
y ward competitors. No imkind, unseemly refer- 
ence to his contemporary publishers ever appear- 
ed in his columns. Although there were occasions 
when the Daily Star was the object of a competi- 
tor's editorials, especially in those days when 
journalistic encounters were all too common and 
often vicious. Editor Harding adhered to the same 
rule which marked his campaign for the presi- 
dency — and remained serenely silent. 

In journalism he found that such a policy paid, 
that it gave his publication a position of dignity 
in the community, a position that won respect and 
aided immeasurably in the material success of the 
Star, 

A stickler for ethics, only those intimately close 
to him know to what extent Mr. Harding adheres 

76 



ETHICS 77 

to them at all times. One of tlie well-known ethics 
of journalism is that the owner and publisher 
shall bear full responsibility for all editorial ut- 
terances. For a number of years, especially after 
Mr.) Harding's time became absorbed politically, 
most of the editorials appearing in the Marion 
daily were the products of his managing editor, 
who, by the way, has served in that capacity prac- 
tically from the very beginning of Editor Hard- 
ing's journalistic career. During the presidential 
campaign several of the Marion Daily Star's past 
editorials were resurrected, and widely published 
in an attempt to injure his candidacy. Very eas- 
ily he could have denied authorship but such sub- 
terfuge, so foreign to his conception of true jour- 
nalistic ethics, was to him unthinkable, and this 
may be the first revelation that certain editorial 
utterances found in old files and attributed to him 
during the campaign were not written by him, or 
with his knowledge. 

Like all publications, his newspaper received 
during the campaign, advance copies of speeches 
to be delivered by his opponent, and his opponent, 
through his two newspapers, likewise received 
advance copies of Mr. Harding's speeches. Such 
copies are solely for the benefit of publishers — to 
save telegraph toll and expedite the composition 
into type. Under no circumstance are they to 
be used before the stipulated release date, nor is 
the substance thereof to be commented upon or 
divulged. Stickler as Mr. Harding is for ethics, 



78 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

Jae even denied himself perusal of advance 
copies of his opponent's speeches, although it 
might have been greatly to his advantage at times 
to have had knowledge of what they contained. 

In this connection it is appropriate to quote 
the rules under* which the Marion Daily Star has 
for years been editorially conducted: 

Creed of Marion Daily Star 

^'Remember there are two sides to every ques- 
tion. Get them both. 

'^Be truthful. Get the facts. 

'^Mistakes are inevitable, but strive for accu- 
racy. I would rather have one story exactly right 
than a hundred half wrong. 

^'Be decent, be fair, be generous. 

^^ Boost — don't knock. 

^* There's good in everybody. Bring out the 
good and never needlessly hurt the feelings of 
anybody. 

**In reporting a political gathering give the 
facts, tell the story as it is, not as you would 
like to have it. Treat all parties alike. If there's 
any politics to be played we will play it in our 
editorial columns. 

*^ Treat all religious matter reverently. 

**If it can possibly be avoided never bring 
ignominy to an innocent man or child in telling 
of the misdeed or misfortunes of a relative. 

** Don't wait to be asked, but do it without 



ETHICS 79 

asking and, above all, be clean and never let a 
dirty word or suggestive story get into type. 

''^I want this paper so conducted that it can go 
into any home without destroying the innocence 
of children/' 

^'During the Ohio gubernatorial campaign of 
1910, while a member of the Legislature, ^ ^ relates 
former Representative Harry Kemerer, ''I hap- 
pened in at Republican State Headquarters at 
^/Columbus and heard a noise in the hallway. 
/ Then came angry words something like these: 
* Get out of here. If you ever show your face in 
these rooms while I am here I will kick you out. 
I have no use for creatures like you.' 

**The speaker was Warren G. Harding, candi- 
date for Governor, and the fellow had come to 
him with a story reflecting upon the character of 
a close relative of Mr. Harding's opponent, Jud- 
son Harmon. The reception that the fellow re- 
ceived at the hands of Mr. Harding revealed his 
repugnance for such methods of campaigning. ' ' 

M'r. Kemerer also relates: ''In 1918, I sug- 
gested to Senator Harding that he prepare for the 
campaign of 1920 by sending constituents copies 
of his speeches in franked envelopes. Mr. Hard- 
ing replied : ' I cannot resort to such cheap politics. 
Of course, if any person desires public documents 
or copies of my speeches his wants will receive 
prompt attention. But I do not think it proper 
or right to burden the mails at the cost of the 



80 PBINTER TO PRESIDENT 

government to advertise myself. I have no desire 
to build up an organization at the expense of the 
public. Any honors that come to me must be 
bestowed because my countrymen deem me 
deserving.' '' 



XII 
INDEFATIGABLE WOEKER 

Busied Himself in All Departments, Inside and Outside of 
Office — Literally/ ^'Messed in Printer^s InW^ — Toil Written 
Over Shirt Sleeves — Preferred Marion to Larger Field 

As publisher and editor he was an indefatigable 
worker, according to the testimony of Jack War- 
wick, who says he worked inside and outside of 
the office. **He messed in printer ^s ink until the 
office devil was immaculate in comparison. What- 
ever his hands could find to do he dirtied them 
with. Honest toil was written over his shirt 
sleeves in black splotches. At one time,*' accord- 
ing to Warwick, *^he had to suspend operations 
in mid-afternoon, near the hour of going to press, 
to have his pants repaired. ' ' 

W. T. Cutshall, who in 1884 was a salesman 
for a printers' supply house, tells the following 
as to his first visit to the Daily Star after Hard- 
ing had bought it : 

^ * I found young Harding rather reticent, a little 
hard to approach, but after a half -hour talk he 
warmed up and talked freely as to his hopes to 
make the Star a paying investment. I gave him 
information as to how to mak^ a newspaper pro- 
fitable. Before we left the office I received a small 

81 



82 PBINTER TO PRESIDENT 

order for paper stock which he most needed — an 
order of possibly less than a dozen dollars. As 
I was on my return trip to Pittsburgh I carried 
the order in to the house, and laid it with others 
before our proprietor. In looking them over he 
came to the one from W. G. Harding, Marion 
Daily Star. He laid it to one side with the remark, 
^I will look this party up.' I told him I had 
faith in the young man; besides, I had promised 
him prompt shipment, that the stock should go 
out at once; and in event that young Harding 
did not pay the bill his shipment should be 
charged to me. The goods were sent and in a few 
days a remittance for the same was received. The 
result was that the editor of the Star became a 
steady customer until the Pittsburgh supply house 
went out of business. Warren made good when 
a young man and will make a good president." 

It was the Harding personal touch that made 
the Star succeed, and as it grew and Marion grew, 
he also grew — physically, mentally and otherwise. 
But he never grew beyond his own native town, 
and he remains today, as close friends say he al- 
ways will remain, juet Warren G. Harding, Edi- 
tor, Marion, Ohio. 

With the skill, efficiency and business accumen 
he developed as a publisher he could have pros- 
pered immeasurably more in a large city, but he 
resisted all offers to locate elsewhere, preferring 
to go along the same path with the townsmen with 
whom he has so happily associated. And it is this 



INDEFATIGABLE WOEKER 83 

that made all Marion, regardless of party affilia- 
tion, rally to his support when he entered the con- 
test for the presidency. Honored as he was by 
election as a member of the most exalted legisla- 
tive body on earth, he continued to be simply Edi- 
tor Harding in his home town. His townsmen 
love him the more because he remains one of 
them. 

When funds were necessary to further his pre- 
convention campaign his townsmen opened their 
purses freely and cheerfully, subscribing one- 
third of the necessary amount — and about half of 
this was contributed by Democrats. 

The way Marion Democrats shed their coats 
and, with sleeves rolled up, worked for his elec- 
tion after nomination is a story that adds lustre 
to the glory of Marion, and constitutes in itself 
the highest testimonial to the personality of Mr. 
Harding, for it is a rarity among rarities to con- 
duct a newspaper in a rural community nearly 
forty years and retain the good will of all the 
people, regardless of party. 

This in itself was achievement ; but it was also 
achievement for Editor Harding — product of a 
rural community where practically all his life was 
spent — to win as Senator Harding did at Wash- 
ington the admiration, friendship and good 
will of the leaders of the dignified United States 
Senate, old-timers, so-called conservatives and so- 
called progressives — to be taken within their in- 
kier circle almost immediately, to be their favorite 



84 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

candidate for the presidency less than six years 
hence. A mere country editor, yet the poise, the 
dignity and the ability were recognized. 



XIII 
THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP 

Proved Vital Factor in Business as Well as Politics — Aoeom- 
pUshed Near Impossibility — Rural Journalism Without 
Animosities 

His unusual gift of making and holding friends 
lias been a vital factor in the political career of 
President Harding as well as in winning his suc- 
cess in the business world. 

It is doubtful if a man ever achieved the presi- 
dency so free of enemies, political and otherwise. 
The policy of '^ understanding " which dominates 
his administration is not new to him. He has 
pursued such a policy all his life. In other words, 
he early acquired the elements necessary to the 
understanding of his fellowmen, and his commer- 
cial, social and political associates developed into 
fast friends. This was so in his home town, where 
he> mastered the usually impossible task of pub- 
lishing and editing a rural newspaper for a third 
of a century without engendering animosities, and 
it was so at Washington, where he won with 
marked rapidity the friendship of fellow Senators 
of all parties and all factions. 

He has ever acted on the theory that '^ sugar 
catches more flies than vinegar," and neither in 

85 



86 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

business nor in politics has lie indulged in strife 
when amicable methods were possible. That the 
nomination at Chicago came to him because he 
had the good will of the delegates, as well as the 
good will of the candidates, is well-known history. 
His previous political successes came, principally, 
for the same reason. 

Another admirable trait is that of standing by 
friends through thick and thin, and in this con- 
nection it is interesting to note how a friendly turn 
resulted in his nomination without opposition for 
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. 

Newton M. Miller, Collector of Internal Reve- 
nue for the Columbus, Ohio, District, tells how 
this happened. 

*'Back in the times of the old Sherman-Foraker- 
Hanna factionalism in Ohio I aspired to be the 
Republican nominee for Clerk of the Ohio Su- 
preme Court. Those were the good old days of 
conventions. I was then a resident of Delaware 
County and I decided to make the race if I could 
have the solid support of my district, of which 
Marion County was part. I went to Marion to 
consult Mr. Harding. I found him at his desk in 
the office of the Daily Star. He received me in 
that affable way of his and when I explained my 
mission, quickly said I should go on my way with- 
out further concern as to Marion County, that he 
would do all in his power as an editor and other- 
wise to secure me the support of the Marion 
County delegation. ^ Don't bother about this 



THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP 87 

county,' he said. *I think I can assure you right 
now that you will have the full delegation. ' 

^^This happy result of my first visit out of my 
own county was most assuring, and I went to the 
other counties greatly encouraged. At the con- 
vention Marion County supported me solidly on 
every ballot, and although I was not nominated 
I w^as none the less grateful to Mr. Harding and 
hoped for an opportunity to prove my apprecia- 
tion. It came in a peculiar way a year later, w^hen 
I was summoned to the office of a certain Colum- 
bus politician, now dead, where I found a gather- 
ing of men who were political factors in those 
days. I was told that for factional reasons they 
had met to formulate opposition to the proposed 
nomination of Mr. Harding for Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor. 

* ^ I listened to the various arguments, none how- 
ever on personal grounds. Then to their amaze- 
ment — as I belonged to their faction — I politely 
announced that they could not count me with them, 
that not only was I under obligations to Mr. 
Harding but opposition to him would be resented 
by every editor in the state. 

^ ' The Hanna-Sherman forces being then in con- 
trol, Senator Hanna was appealed to. It hap- 
pened that I was holding at the time a position 
through appointment of Senator Hanna, and send- 
ing for me he asked me point blank how I stood on 
the nomination of Harding for Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor. I thereupon related the kindness Harding 



88 PRINTEE TO PEESIDENT 

had rendered me and that I was in favor of his 
nomination, even if he did belong to the other 
wing. I also pointed out that Harding's defeat 
would prove a political blunder. Brusque and 
vehement as Hanna usually was, I expected him to 
storm, but instead he replied: *You would be a 
rank ingrate if you did not support him. Perhaps 
S^ou are right; to oppose him will be a mistake.' 

^'* Nothing further came of the plot, if you can 
call it such, and when the convention met Harding 
was nominated by acclamation.'' 

Many instances of President Harding's stead- 
fastness to friends could be related. When it 
comes to friendships he ^'stands pat." He is 
slow in cultivating friends and his intimate per- 
sonal circle is small. But when the circle is en- 
tered, the tie is everlasting. 

To Harry M. Daugherty, his pre-convention 
manager, he became attached early in his political 
career. Indeed, it was due in great measure to 
Mr. Daugherty that Harding entered the political 
arena. The tie of friendship between them early 
developed into a sort of Damon and Pythias at- 
taclunent. The test came when Harding decided 
to become an aspirant for the presidency. Ene- 
mies of Daugherty, some of them powerful in 
Ohio, strenuously opposed Daugherty 's connec- 
tion as manager, threatening to extend their op- 
position to Harding himself. He was warned that 
it would mean defeat in his home state, that he 
would be antagonized as a *^ favorite son." It 



THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP 89 

virtually meant political disaster, but Harding did 
not waver in his devotion to a friend. And even 
after Daugherty^s defeat for delegate to the Na- 
tional Convention, and when still further opposi- 
tion was threatened, he resisted all demands to 
forsake him. To the contrary, his devotion in- 
creased, although at the time it looked like dis- 
aster to his candidacy. 

It was an acid test, but Harding preferred loy- 
alty to the presidency. At this point it may be 
timely to quote what Harding had to say of 
Daugherty in his first public utterance following 
the nomination : 

*^He is one who has stood by me through the 
fire of opposition, one who is always a good fight- 
er and a wonderfully helpful support. If you but 
knew how he has fought for me, you would esteem 
iliim as I do." 

In selecting a Secretary, President Harding 
again demonstrated his marked trait of devotion. 
George B. Christian, Jr., was not only a life-long 
neighbor, but was once a reporter on the Star. 
Mr. Harding took him to Washington as Secre- 
tary when he was elected Senator. The fact 
that Mr. Christianas father was a Democrat did 
not deter Senator Harding at that time, nor did 
it deter him when it came to choosing a White 
House Secretary. In announcing Mr. Christian's 
appointment to newspaper men, Mr. Harding 
said: *^ George is the son of an old-time friend 
and Civil War comrade of my veteran father. 



90 PBINTER TO PRESIDENT 

George was once a cub reporter on my paper. 
Since a youth he has been almost a member of 
the famly. His eldest boy is named after me. I 
have selected George B. Christian, Jr., as Secre- 
tary because I love him." 

And let it be recorded that the newspaper men 
who heard the announcement and others who re- 
port White House news agree that Mr. Christian 
has made good and that service was not sacrificed 
for friendship. 



XIV 
TRAITS OF KINDNESS 

Reluctant to Disappoint — Never too Worn or Weary to Smile 
— Always Thoughtful of Others 

On one of. his trips the President observed in 
the crowd a crippled boy in a wheel chair. He 
stopped almost in the midst of a sentence to per- 
sonally greet and speak to the lad. During the 
1920 campaign, when he learned that a gathering 
he was to have addressed had been overlooked by 
the committee in charge, he went forward to the 
newspapermen's car and in words that conveyed 
all sincerity told how trnly sorry he was, for one 
of his outstanding characteristics is his reluctance 
to disappoint in the slightest degree. 

Once when he had addressed two meetings, one 
outdoors which required all the exertion he could 
command, he persisted in shaking hands with 
hundreds who swarmed about him, although wet 
with perspiration, and against the protest of the 
secret service men and his ph^^sician. On another 
occasion, after he had retired to his compartment, 
he made his appearance at the rear of the train 
and chatted with trainmen and railway workers 
until the train's departure. 

During the early months of 1900, when serving 

91 



92 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

in the Ohio Legislature as a senator from the 
Marion District, it is related that his eyes fell 
upon a newcomer at a press desk, a young man 
on his first legislative assignment. It was clear 
to the Senator that the chap was in a dilemma. In 
fraternal SATupathy he went to him at the close 
(of the session, and placing his hand on his shoul- 
der said in a kindly voice : * ' What is the trouble, 
my boy? Can I help you I" 

The bewildered young man looked up and re- 
plied: ^'Yes, Senator, I need help. This is the 
first assembly I ever attempted to report, and I 
am afraid of falling down in getting a report to 
my paper." 

Having grown up in newspaper work, in touch 
with all branches from reporting to hiring report- 
ers, the Senator realized fully the cub's predica- 
ment. '^ Let's see what can be done," he said. 

Weary with the cares and excitement of the 
day, Mr. Harding sat down with the young man 
and together they fixed up a ^* story" of the day's 
proceedings. So clear and intelligent was the 
report that a telegram of congratulation came to 
the reporter from his paper. For several days 
following Senator Harding aided thei young re- 
porter, until he was able to take care of the job 
himself. 

There are many other instances, such as this : 

^^Many years ago, in Marion, the fires of an 
enduring friendship were kindled in the breasts 
of an editor and a prosperous business man. The 



TRAITS OF KINDNESS 93 

editor set out upon a political career and enjoyed 
the smiles of a kindly fate. The business man 
•was overtaken by misfortune and ill health and 
saw his ambitions and aspirations suddenly shat- 
tered. The one continued to mount the ladder 
of fame, while the clouds on the other's horizon 
grew darker and darker. These two met at 
Bedford, Virginia, and one stood upon the 
highest pinnacle of success; the other had seen 
the sun set on his material hopes. But in the 
hearty handclasp and warm greetings of Warren 
G. Harding, President-elect of the United States, 
and Henry M. Stowe, an inmate of the Elks^ na- 
tional home for aged and indigent members of 
the order, varying fortunes were forgotten while 
fuel was added to the flames of brotherly love; 
it was a meeting of friends of old, and the friend- 
ship of years ago had stood the test of time, rip- 
ened, mellowed, glowing. 

^'The President-elect had come to deliver the 
address at the annual memorial exercises at the 
Elks' home. Mr. Stowe was chainnan of the 
memorial committee, whose personal invitation 
to his friend had been promptly accepted before 
Senator Harding had become a candidate for the 
presidential nomination, and which nothing but 
illness or death could have prevented him from 
fulfilling. The real source of joy in this happy 
meeting was not the great honor bestowed upon 
the editor-friend of long ago by the American 
electorate. Mr. Stowe proudly demonstrated how 



94 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

the sight in one of his eyes had been restored by 
an operation arranged by Senator Harding and 
more proudly told of the hope held out by special- 
ists engaged by Harding that another operation 
soon to be performed would restore the sight of 
the other eye. Gladness reigned in both hearts. 
Mr. Stowe entered the President-elect's private 
oar while Senator and Mrs. Harding were sitting 
down to breakfast. 'Hello, Henry, ^ the President- 
elect shouted, as he rushed down the aisle w^ith 
outstretched hands. * Hello, Warren,' was the 
cheerful reply. They shook hands for a minute 
or^more and threw their free arms across each 
other's shoulders. They talked about how each 
was feeling and getting along, and later in the 
day, when the President-elect addressed the Elks, 
he referred to the incident, saying among other 
things : 

< i i Friendship and fellowship are as old as cre- 
ation and there comes the refinement of them in 
developing civilization. Nature made fellowship 
instinctive with the beasts of the field and the 
fowds of the air and man craves it in every walk 
of life. Fraternity strikes the common chords 
and the world needs more of the fraternity of 
men and more of the ^fraternity of peoples and 
nations. 

' ' ^ One cannot fancy a life fit to live without the 
memory's revealments in fellowships and friend- 
ships ; without love and attachments ; without en- 



TEAITS OF KINDNESS 95 

couragements and endearments; without inspira- 
tions and the consciousness of achievements/ " 

Dr. Thomas H. McAfee of the Trinity Baptist 
Church at Marion, of which Harding is trustee, 
was stricken with paralysis and the strain of 
paying his salary in addition to that of an active 
pastor weighed heavily on the church treasury. 
On the eve of his departure for Washington to 
take thei oath of office, the news leaked out that 
the President-elect had volunteered to pay the 
salary of the new pastor out of his own pocket 
as long as that of the stricken pastor was con- 
tinued. 

I am reminded of the kindly human nature of 
Mr. Harding as revealed on the occasion of his 
visit to the Soldiers' Hospital at Fort Sheridan, 
Illinois. Together with Mrs. Harding he spent 
two hours in the hospital, going from ward to 
ward, shaking hands and chatting with the pa- 
tients. The warmth of his greetings permeated 
the hospital. In practically every instance when 
he asked a patient how" he was coming along the 
reply was: ^'Fine!" One pale chap, unable to 
get up, put extra emphasis in his reply, and Mr. 
Harding said : * ^ I like the way you spoke ; I like 
the ring you put in it." Another boy, also unable 
to rise, was smoking a cigarette and Mr. Harding 
remarked: **Did you read that the first thing 
asked for by the boys who were rescued the other 
day from a submarine was cigarettes?" *^A 
cigarette is about the best thing a sick fellow can 



96 PBINTER TO PRESIDENT 

get/' the soldier observed. *'I hope you will get 
well fast, and lots of cigarettes, too,'* responded 
Mr. Harding. 

Not a word did he miss and scarcely a patient, 
and in practically every instance he indulged in a 
running conversation, leaving all the boys in a 
happy frame of mind. As he departed from the 
hospital he made a special request that the con- 
valescents gather about him and General Leonard 
W,ood, while pictures were taken. 

On the first Sunday following his inauguration. 
President and Mrs. Harding made a similar visit 
to a soldiers ' hospital in Washington — going from 
ward to ward leaving cheer at every cot. Shortly 
afterward the disabled heroes were invited to the 
White House, where they were received as special 
guests, a famous glee club, responding to the 
President's appeal, coming from Ohio to entertain 
them. 

Fondness for dogs is ever regarded as an index 
of one's true nature, and the President's char- 
acteristic in this respect is pronounced. He was 
prompt in accepting an Airedale pup as a White 
House pet, for it brought to his memory a dog, 
*'Hub," long a part of his household at Marion, 
on whose death he wrote a tribute that will rank 
with the most touching encomia ever paid to 
faithful animals. In the Marion Daily Star of 
March 11, 1913, appeared the tribute to ^^Hub," 
written by the Starts editor, Mr. Harding: 

* * Edgewood Hub in the register, a mark of his 



TRAITS OF KINDNESS 97 

breeding, but to us just Hub, a little Boston ter- 
rier, whose sentient eye mirrored the fidelity and 
devotion of his loyal heart. The veterinary said 
he was poisoned; perhaps he was — his mute suf- 
fering suggested it. One is reluctant to believe 
that a human being who claims man's estate could 
be so hateful a coward as to ruthlessly torture 
and kill a trusting victim, made defenseless 
through his confidence in the human master, but 
there are such. One honest look from Hub's 
trusting eyes was worth a hundred lying greetings 
from such inhuman beings, though they wore the 
habilim.ents of men. 

** Perhaps you wouldn't devote these Hnes to a 
dog. But Hub was a Star office visitor nearly 
every day of the six years in which he deepened 
attachment. He was a grateful and devoted dog, 
with a dozen lovable attributes, and it somehow 
voices the yearnings of broken companionship to 
pay his memory deserved tribute. 

^^It isn't orthodox to ascribe a soul to a dog — 
if soul means immortality. But Hub'was loving 
and loyal, with the jealousy that tests its quality. 
He was reverent, patient, faithful ; he was sympa- 
thetic, more than humanly so, sometimes, for no 
lure could be devised to call him from the sick 
bed of mistress or niaster. He minded his own 
affairs, especially worthy of human emulation, 
and he would kill or wound no living thing. He 
was modest and submissive where these qualities 
were becoming, yet he assumed a guardianship of 



98 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

the home he sentineled, until entry was properly 
vouched. He couldn't speak our language though 
he somehow understood, but he could be and was 
eloquent with uttering eye and wagging tail, and 
the other expressions of knowing dogs. No, per- 
haps he had no soul, but in these things are the 
essence of soul and the spirit of lovable life. 

** Whether the Creator planned it so, or envir- 
onment and human companionship have made it 
so, men learn richly through the love and fidelity 
of a brave and devoted dog. Such loyalty might 
easily add lustre to a crown of immortality. ' ' 

It is not only his own dog but all dogs to whom 
the President is a good friend. 

Seeing in a newspaper article that a dog be- 
longing to a Russian immigrant was about to be 
shot under a peculiar state law. President 
Harding appealed to the Governor for clemency, 
saying: *^I have an abiding faith that the man 
who loves his dog to the extent that he will grieve 
for him has in him the qualities which will make 
him a loyal citizen." The dog's life was saved 
through ' ' pardon. ' ' 

Referring to his visits to hospitals and solici- 
tude for disabled soldiers, it is fitting that this 
chapter conclude with the beautiful tribute he 
paid to two young men who lost their sight at 
Argonne : 

^^ These men have made the greatest sacrifice 
for country which men may offer short of life it- 
self. I want to publicly pledge to them the Re- 



TRAITS OP KINDNESS 99 

public's unfailing and grateful consideration, for 
I know what inspired their heroism. They were 
fighting for America and American rights; they 
fought to defend American lives, American free- 
dom on the seas and American ideals of inter- 
national relationship. Their hearts were stirred 
and their supreme offering was made when Amer- 
ica was imperiled. 

*^They can never again see Old Glory, sublime 
at home and signalling our concept of freedom 
and justice throughout the world. But I pledge 
to them an assurance in their hearts where their 
blind eyes cannot convey — there never shall be a 
substitute for the Stars and Stripes thev last 
beheld.'' 



XV 
EEAL HUMAN BEING 

Grows on Close Acquaintance — 31 ore Than Measures Up With 
Intimates and Ever Rings True — Modesty Made Him 
Unwilling Candidate But Most Willing Campaigner 

President Harding grows on close acquaintance. 
He more than measures up with intimates. This 
explains his extraordinary popularity among his 
home folks — ^neighbors and townsmen who have 
grown up with and around him. It accounts for 
the fact that the whole of Marion, his home town, 
backed him for the presidency. 

President Harding rings true. He is as void 
of exaggeration or hypocrisy as he is of self- 
esteem or ego. His extreme modesty is nearly a 
fault. This element of modesty made him a re- 
luctant candidate for the nomination — as he him- 
self termed it, an '* unwilling candidate.^' How- 
ever, after he became the nominee, although still 
modest and unassuming, he at once became a most 
willing campaigner, a willingness which extended 
his popularity throughout the nation. 

As the newspaper correspondents attached to 
the White House express it, *'He^s a real human 
being.'' He talks and acts like other men. **I 
am no super-man,'' is one of his frequent utter- 

100 



EEAL HUMAN BEING 101 

ances. '*He is just folks!'' exclaimed Al Jolson, 
the eminent comedian who knows men, the day of 
a theatrical pilgrimage to Marion, after Al had 
mingled and chatted with him intimately and in 
true homely fashion. 

It is the close-up that reveals Harding at his 
hest. The day following his nomination an Okla- 
homa delegate best described the value of Hard- 
ing's personality, his magnetism. '^The greatest 
factor in his nomination was his own, individual 
self. Practically every delegate who came in con- 
tact mth him was magnetically dra^vn to him, and 
before balloting began he was at least second 
choice of the entire convention. 

A * ' regular fellow ' ' is the comment of the cor- 
respondents associated with him during the cam- 
paign and since. And an interesting phase of the 
campaign of 1920 was the candidate's constant 
contact with reporters. Himself a newspaperman, 
his first thought was of the press, and within an 
hour following his nomination he had notices post- 
ed in the lobbies of the Chicago hotels that he 
would receive representatives of the press at his 
hotel. As soon as the boys assembled he ap- 
peared, and when it was suggested that his time 
was limited and that the conference must be 
short, he replied: ''Let's begin this thing right; 
I want to meet the boys personally, know their 
names and get acquainted." 

Although his train was soon to start and Chair- 
man Hays and other party leaders were to be 



102 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

conferred with, Mr. Harding shook hands with 
each knight of the press and chatted with them 
an hour or so, inaugurating at that moment inti- 
mate conferences with the press representatives 
that continued without interruption throughout 
the campaign, indeed, until and even after inaugu- 
ration. 

When the boys accompanied him from Wash- 
ington to Marion, he had constructed for their 
benefit a three-room bungalow with its own front 
porch, in the rear of the Christian home, which 
adjoins the Hardings '. This bungalow was fitted 
with desks, typewriters, newspaper files and other 
conveniences, including telegraph equipment and 
telephones. The bungalow had a unique setting 
in the midst of a miniature apple orchard and 
grape arbors. During the entire fall the corre- 
spondents had their fill of apples and grapes, and 
hereafter when apples or grapes are mentioned 
they v/ill think of Marion, and waffles, too, for 
the Harding kitchen was close by with its dusky 
queen, Inez McWhorter, who every now and 
then served them the famous breakfast dish — that 
is, on those mornings when she happened to have 
an extra supply. 

Once each day and not infrequently twice, the 
presidential candidate, bareheaded, visited the 
boys in what they called their * ^ shack. ^ ' Usually 
he seated himself on the rail of the porch and 
after lighting a stogie or cigarette (more often 
the former, which is his favorite smoke), or 



REAL HUMAN BEING 103 

'' bumming '' a chew of fine cut, he'd say: 
*^ Shoot!'' Then in a jolly, intimate, confidential 
fashion, he answered without evasion any ques- 
tion that might be fired at him. Now and then, 
however, he would say, *^You may use that if 
you wish," but all else he trusted to the boys to 
keep in their bosoms inviolate, and to the credit 
of the newspaper profession be it said that in 
no instance was the trust violated. 

Those talks did not end with the election. He 
frequently conferred with the boys who accom- 
panied him to Point Isabelle, Texas, and Panama, 
and the last thing he did on the train carrying 
him from Marion to Washington, for inaugura- 
tion, was to summon the correspondents about 
him in his private car and unbosom himself in a 
most intimate fashion. Twice each week the boys 
gather about him at the White House, and never 
before has a President taken the press into such 
close confidence. 

A good description of a White House confer- 
ence with the press boys is told by one of the 
old-time? correspondents : 

*^When the correspondents surround him for 
a conference the scene is like that of a group of 
printers and stereotypers surrounding the make- 
up man in a big newspaper office about the time 
the paper is ready to go to press; and once, in 
response to a question, President Harding said 
that there is nothing in which he takes keener 
delight than in making-up a newspaper when the 



104 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

last minute has arrived and the air is surcharged 
with composing room excitement. 

** Dropping into the vernacular, with the use 
of a bit of slang, the President has a facile way 
of side-stepping any questions he does not want 
to answer. Usually his answers are to the point 
and informative, but if for any reason he does 
not care to answer he ^ducks' in the most graceful 
manner possible. For instance: * Don't put that 
in your papers. I want to be able to talk freely 
to you and with the feeling that you will not quote 
any little remarks of mine that may not seem dig- 
nified. I do not want to be on my dignity all the 
time. Let's understand each other. It would be 
embarrassing if I had everlastingly to be on guard 
against unauthorized interviews.' " 

Once, at Marion, when departing from a con- 
ference with the correspondents, Mr. Harding 
was asked by the official campaign photographer 
to pose for a picture. ^^AU look pleasant!" he 
directed. *^Well, it is pretty hard to look pleas- 
ant," replied the candidate, ^^when I think of 
planting those apple trees twenty years ago. I 
was promised Rambos, but they turned out near- 
ly everything else. ' ' This gave everybody a smile, 
in which the candidate joined, and the photog- 
rapher got a smiling picture. 

Near the close of the campaign the correspond- 
ents tendered Mr. Harding a private dinner, 
with only themselves and the candidate pres- 
ent. The correspondents announced that they 



EEAL HUMAN BEING 105 

liad formed the ''Order of the Elephant" and 
that he had been elected the only honorary 
member. He was presented with a cigarette case, 
which the spokesman declared was made of ele- 
phant hide. It bore this inscription: ''Order of 
the Elephant, Local 1, Marion, Ohio. First An- 
nual Banquet, Sept. 30, 1920. President Harding, 
March 4, 1921.'' 

In his address of presentation the spokesman 
said : 

"Mr. President: As newspapermen we should 
like to have the honor, in your retrospective 
thoughts, of having been the first group of Amer- 
icans to address you so — to anticipate the fact. 
We know as well as other men that the world is 
full of tribulations. But there is still a lot of 
sunshine to warm the heart. Here in Marion we 
have found it so. Although sentimentality is 
something newspapermen shy from, we would 
like to tell you to your blushing face that we think 
you have been a cheerful and considerate gentle- 
man in your dealings with us. There isn't a man 
here who is not impressed with your character. 
If you don 't make a fine President, our judgment 
is no good and we are in the wrong trade." 

Shortly after the inauguration, ' ' Local 1, Order 
of the Elephant," was tendered a dinner at the 
White House, which was attended by the members 
who were the candidate's hosts at Marion during 
the campaign. 

On an occasion when the President was a guest 



106 PEINTEtR TO PRESIDENT 

of the National Press Club, Washington, in honor 
of his birthday, he unbosomed himself, saying, 
among other heart-to-heart things, that his hard- 
est task as President was to remain a ^* human 
being/ ^ *'It's pretty hard,^^ he said, '*to be 
President and perfectly natural and normal. 
Somedays when you have exercised infinite pati- 
ence and tolerance and have had the assistance 
of your friends who have some measureable 
degree of wisdom, you retire at night and think 
the world is going to roll along all right, but when 
the returning tide comes in, it is the same old 
story over and over again. Some of you think 
it is a very fine thing to be President of the 
United States and it is good to keep on thinking 
it, because when you wake up from your dream 
you will find it a very different thing.** 



XVI 

A EEGULAR FELLOW 

In Dress and Othermse — Campaign Incidents — Helps Oper- 
ate Locomotive — Wore $1.85 Rat — Practiced Thrift and 
Economy — Mrs. Harding Did Likewise 

Typical American business man that he is, Mr. 
Harding dresses in the plainest manner. The two- 
button sack coat, vest and trousers of the same 
material, constitute his favorite style, with ** turn- 
down^' collar and either string or four-in-hand 
tie. When the weather permits he dons white 
trousers, with shoes and socks to match, and a 
sailor straw. He wears a vest only when the 
weather, or occasion, requires, and his favorite 
hat is a soft felt. When traveling he **falls'' for 
the customary traveler's cap. For formal occa- 
sions he dignifies his position with frock coat and 
silk hat. 

I recall an instance when he apologized for ap- 
pearing with a cap. It was at Terre Haute, In- 
diana, during the campaign, when he addressed a 
great throng from an improvised platform on a 
business street. 

At the station just before reaching Terre Haute 
word came to Mr. Harding that the engine crew 
would change at that city and they desired to 

107 



108 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

meet him. Mr. Harding had just finished shaking 
hands with a crowd about the rear of the train, 
Avhich was ready to start. *'Why/' he instantly 
replied, ^'I'll go forward and ride with them,'' 
and although his private car was a dozen car- 
lengths in the rear he started on a dog-trot along- 
side the train in the direction of the engine. 

**Come on, Duchess,'' he exclaimed to Mrs. 
Harding who, with the Pullman conductor on one 
side and a newspaper correspondent on the other, 
followed in similar fashion, with the ever-present 
movie man grinding out pictures. Climbing into 
the engine cab thety introduced themselves to the 
engineer and fireman, who proceeded, with the 
candidate's assistance and Mrs. Harding pulling 
the whistle, to operate the train. 

The twenty miles to Terre Haute was a thrilling 
experience, with the movie men perched on top 
of the tender taking pictures. At Terre Haute 
the reception committee naturally assembled 
about the rear of the train, but proceeded post- 
haste in the direction of the engine when they saw 
the presidential couple clambering down the loco- 
motive steps. 

Covered with cinders, with oil and dirt, Mr. and 
Mrs. Harding were piled into the committee's 
automobile, and with cap on his head the candidate 
was taken to the meeting-place. To the great 
throng, many of whom were railway workers, he 
explained the presence of the cap and his grimy 
face and hands. He said that he took the engine 



A REGULAB FELLOW 109 

ride because in preacliing the gospel of better 
understanding he desired to familiarize himself 
mth actual conditions. Few of the millions who 
travel realize, he said, how much their safety de- 
pends upon those in the engine cab, upon those 
in the dispatcher's office, upon those in the inspec- 
tor's crew, upon the trainmen in general, and it 
increases one's appreciation and promotes a bet- 
ter understanding to mingle and get in actual 
touch with the worker. 

The entire incident, beginning with the ride on 
the engine and concluding with apology and ex- 
planation, was purely an inspiration of the mo- 
ment, but quite characteristic of the human ele- 
ment which made Harding so popular as a candi- 
date. 

Once, during the campaign, when queried by a 
reporter as to the high cost of living, he replied : 
^^This hat cost me one eighty-five and it is good 
enough for anybody. I have worn it two years. 
You might expect a United States Senator to 
afford a ten-dollar hat, but you can't put anything 
by if you are going to invest in high-priced arti- 
cles. I have always made it a rule — in business 
as well as private purchases — if something I fan- 
cied seemed high in price, to go without. The 
trouble with the United States today is that we 
are spending too liberally. Extravagance is a 
menace to prosperity and we must return to sim- 
ple living, honest work and thrift.*' 

Asked by the same reporter if he favored the 



110 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

suggested overall movement in order to bring 
down the price of clothing, he said he did not, 
for the reason that such a movement would cause 
the cost of overalls to increase and prove a burden 
upon those who really had to wear them. 

In this connection the writer cannot refrain 
from mentioning that Mrs. Harding, who has sim- 
ilar ideas about economy and is a true type of 
frugal American womanhood, continued to wear 
a straw hat throughout the lat« months of the 
presidential campaign. When asked by the writer 
if she particularly liked the hat or sought to set 
an example to millions of women who, slaves of 
fashion, discard their summer millinery as early 
as August, she replied, **I believe in conserva- 
tion. »' 



XVII 
THE FORMER BAND PLAYER 

But Too Modest to Blow Own Horn — Musical Incidents at 
Marion During Campaign — Picture Take^i With Tuba 
About His N^eck — Draws Lesson He-Working and Playing 
in Tune — How Mrs. Harding Made the Star Support 
Warren. 

Modest man that he is, it is a fact that in youth- 
ful days, before becoming a journalist. President 
Harding really did ^*blow his own hom/^ He 
played in the village band, which supplied 
'* music '^ for July Fourth celebrations, tourna- 
ments, church and lodge festivals, and helped 
draw crowds when shows played at the **opry 
house.*' Once in a band tournament at a neigh- 
boring town the Marion Cornet Band won a prize, 
in reality a prouder day in Mr. Harding's mem- 
oriy than that of his election to the presidency. 

During the campaign frequent but futile efforts 
were made by musical organizations to induce the 
candidate again to try his hand at playing. One 
day when a band of the United States Navy vis- 
ited the front porch Mr. Harding created a bit of 
excited expectancy by requesting Mrs. Harding to 
bring forth his old comet. She asked the house- 
hold attendant to do so, but was obliged to search 

111 



112 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

herself before the instrument was found. Mean- 
while the sailor lads and assembled crowd ex- 
pected at last to hear the candidate give an actual 
demonstration as a cornetist. However, when 
Mrs. Harding appeared, having resurrected the 
cornet from the attic, the President turned it over 
to the Navy band and requested them to try it out, 
as they did. Although resisting all importunities 
for him to play with the band, he did consent to 
have a picture taken with a tuba around his neck. 

On one occasion, when presented with a cornet, 
he said : ' ' One of the earliest ambitions of my life 
was to possess a cornet like this. It brings back 
the days of my youth when I rejoiced to belong 
to the Marion Cornet Band and the Caledonia 
Cornet Band. Recalling those band days I remem- 
ber that we always had to stick to the tune, and 
whenever one sounded a false note, in the ver- 
nacular of bandsmen he was accused of ^stealing 
a ham,' and nobody could ever * steal a ham' in 
our organization without immediately coming into 
very bad favor. ' ' 

Lessons gained from that experience taught him 
in early youth not only to *^play his part'' but to 
play it in good harmony and close co-operation 
mth others, to avoid discord. Nothing, he said, so 
jarred a musician as discord and discords have 
the same effect upon humanity in general. ^ ^ In a 
musical organization, I learned, that all must work 
together; and as a nation we should all play our 
parts in harmony for the good of all." 




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THE FOEMEE BAND PLAYER 113 

The surviving members of the old Caledonia 
Band, including Jack Warwick, had planned to 
{)articipate in the inaugural parade, with their 
original instruments, but Mr. Harding's parade 
veto made the unique event impossible. 

But listen to what Warwick has to say about 
those band days and how he and Harding bought 
the Star: 

'*We began to make the night hideous in the 
same organization. He was conspicuous because 
he was big and blew the smallest horn, while I 
was small and blew the largest horn. Destiny 
maintains a balance for her own. 

<^My recollection is that the beginning of the 
collapse of W. G.'s horn-blowing ambition took 
place in November, 1884. Grover Cleveland's 
election had much to do with it. The Democrats 
of Marion were holding a big parade in celebra- 
tion of the temporary resurrection of the party. 
Johnny Stickel, a friend of mine, and myself 
drove a pair of yellow ponies nine miles to hear 
the re-heartened rank and file chortle with glee. 
Harding with his cornet was furnishing the key- 
note for the wolves of Democracy to howl by. 

^^When the parade was over he found Stickel 
and me in front of a restaurant. We all went in 
to eat, and it was there that the exhausted horn 
blower sez, sezzee: 

'* ^ Jack, let's buy the Marion Daily Star/ 

** *If we do,' says I, ^ who's going to pay for 
these oysters r 



114 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

*'Then Johnnie broke in: ^Tlie treat's on me, 
boys, oysters and Star.' 

*^That was the beginning of the resuscitation 
of the run-down, flea-bitten, four-page paper that 
has since become a vital force in the County of 
Marion, State of Ohio. Harding did it. He gave 
up the cornet for the Star. I question whether he 
ever fully recovered from the hurt of having 
Iblown that horn in celebration of Grover Cleve- 
land's triumph while his heart was aching over 
James G. Blaine's defeat." 

There being various stories as to the in- 
strument he played in his old band days, the 
President was once asked pointblank: ''What did 
you play, anyv\^ay?" 

He replied: ''Please don't exaggerate my 
musical ability. I played every instrument except 
the slide trombone and E-flat cornet." 

He went with the Marion band to Findlay to 
take part in a band tournament, a great event in 
those days. They didn't have any uniforms and 
they needed them to take part in the contest. 
Young Harding personally borrowed the money 
and bought the uniforms, getting a local merchant 
to endorse his note. He was sure they would win 
the prize. Some of the bandsmen were not so 
confident. He had to guarantee one of them his 
wages, and hire a physician to look after the wife 
of another. The Marion band won. The victory 
was the greatest in the future President's early 
career. 



THE FORMER BAND PLAYER 115 

President Harding, in a recent letter, hinted at 
his musical past. He expressed his interest in 
^Hhe effort to develop interest in and taste for 
good music, throughout the nation, perhaps in 
part because I have been a very little of an ama- 
teur myself." 

**I know it has been said," the letter continued, 
^'that arts have not always been so much favored 
under republican as monarchial forms of govern- 
ment, but I think a fair survey will justify a very 
frank difference of opinion on that point." 

Nothing is more impressive than the modesty 
and sincerity that Harding manifests at all times. 
Repeatedly, he says, ^'I am no different than I 
have ever been. You place responsibility on one's 
shoulders and one usually measures up to it. That 
is what I hope to do for the good of our common 
country. ' ' 

Speaking of his extreme modesty and reluct- 
ance to ^'blow his own horn," it one of the strict- 
est rules of his newspaper that no mention be 
made within its columns of the owner's political 
activities. This w^as particularly so during the 
period preceding the convention which nominated 
him. 

This fact being called to the attention of Mrs. 
Harding, she said she ** would see about it next 
time she went to Marion." She did, as she 
relates : 

*^ I went to Van Fleet, the managing editor, and 



116 PBINTER TO PRESIDENT 

said, ^George, how is it you never have anything 
in the Star about Warren?' 

^' * Orders from the boss,' replied faithful 
George. 

*' ^Well,' said I, ^ just now I am boss and I don't 
think it right that our readers have to get their 
news about Warren in other papers. Just forget 
that old order. I'll assume full responsibility.' " 

Then, for the first time in the career of the 
Marion Daily Star, it began mentioning the name 
of its owner, editorially as well as in the news 
columns. This is a truthful account of how Hard- 
ing's own paper began boosting its owner — how 
it began blowing the horn he would not blow him- 
self. 



XVIII 
GOLF AND AUTOING 

The Former a Recreation of Recent Years, hut as an Autoist 
the President is a Pioneer — Owned and Drcve One of the 
First Machines in His Home County 

Golf and autoing are favorite pastimes of the 
President, though the former is a recreation of 
very recent years, and only since 1915, when he 
became a temporary resident of Washington. 

Autoing, however, is the President's most en- 
joyed recreation. He became an automobile 
owner and driver at the start, owning and driving 
one of the very first automobiles sold in his 
home-town of Marion. It was a ^'one-lunger,'* 
which he soon traded in tov/ard a two -cylinder car 
with the engine under the seat, and a rear-door 
tonneau. He has owned automobiles of all degrees 
ever since. With a few exceptions he has been his 
own driver, and intends continuing so at every 
opportunity. 

Before the days of automobiles he rode a bicy- 
cle, and one of his first bicycles and one of his 
first automobiles are still in existence. Both of 
them would have been seen in the inaugural pa- 
rade if original plans had been carried out. In 
his earlier days he was very fond of bicycle rid- 

117 



118 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

ing and during the campaign he told an audience 
at Bellefontaine, Ohio, that the inspiration for 
his first speech came to him while cycling near 
that city. 

Nothing now gives him more pleasure than to 
tour about the country in a machine. Practically 
all his trips to and from Washington, while serv- 
ing in the Senate, were made overland, as were 
trips from W,ashington to Marion following nomi- 
nation and inauguration. 

His former chauffeur, Frank Blackstein, is au- 
thority for the following stoiiy: 

One day in Washington, when a Senator, Mr. 
Harding rushed into his private garage and told 
Frank he had to get to the Union Station in twenty 
minutes. While Frank was looking for his coat the 
Senator jumped in behind the wheel and started 
the car out of the garage. 

^^Hop in!" he shouted, as the car sped out of 
the garage. ^^I've driven automobiles for twenty 
years," said Blackstein, '^but have never seen a 
surer or more cautious driver. He took the hill 
at California Street in a way that would have 
made the best of drivers jealous. In fact, it was 
such a splendid bit of driving for one in a hurry 
that I couldn't help remarking: * Senator, you 
ought to join the Chauffeurs' Association, then 
if you are defeated for another term you'll have 
a trade to fall back on.' 

** ^All right,' he laughingly replied, *fix up an 
application blank for me.' 



GOLF AND AUTOING 119 

^'Wlien he returned to Washington his applica- 
tion blank was ready. He signed it and I had him 
enrolled as an honorary member/' 

' ^ To me motoring has always been the grandest 
sport and the greatest luxury of which I have 
any knowledge, '^ said Mr. Harding recently. ^*I 
have owned a number of cars and have invested 
in them more perhaps than I could afford, and in 
so doing have not set a good example of thrift and 
\common sense to my fellow-citizens, yet have 
spent no money for pleasure or enjoyment which 
I have regretted less. I have toured the country 
widely, both for pleasure and on business, and I 
have enjoyed even the vicissitudes of such travel. 
I think I have ridden in every sort of motor ve- 
hicle thus far developed, except tanks, and I hope 
conditions will never again necessitate their em- 
ployment. I have found my cars providers of 
healthful recreation; extenders and cementers of 
friendship; broadeners of acquaintance and a 
worthwhile adjunct to my scheme of living.'* 

During part of a journey from Washington to 
Marion the candidate himself drove. Mrs. Hard- 
ing had provided a shoe-box filled with lunch and 
the candidate's vest pockets bulged with stogies. 
Mrs. Harding was up early and while attired for 
the trip with veil and cloak busied herself with 
many little tasks about the house. Admonishing 
the man in charge to be sure to turn off the gas, 
lights and water, she climbed into the car just as 
Inez McWhorter, the Hardings' faithful colored 



120 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

cook, appeared, laden with bundles. Inez was on 
her way to the railway station, en route to Marion, 
and bidding Mrs. Harding farewell, said, **May 
the Lord bless you all through your trip !'' **He'd 
better bless you, ' ' said Mrs. Harding. * ^ You need 
it, too.'' 



XIX 

^^ LOOKS LIKE A PRESIDENT '^ 

Strong, Clear-cut Features Impress Indian Woman — She 
Weaves Blanket for ''Good White Chief" 

Tall, robust, straight, with clean-shaven, clear- 
cut face, topped with high, broad forehead and 
hair slightly gray and closely cropped. President 
Harding is an impressive figure, and either in 
$1.85 hat, overalls, sack coat or golf knickers, his 
appearance is commanding. As one writer ob- 
served: ** Altogether the ensemble reminds one 
of the grim-lipped patrician of the Roman Senate. 
He looks like a President !^^ 

It was the impressive face of the Chief 
Executive that caused him to receive a prized gift 
from an Indian woman during the campaign — a 
Navajo blanket designed and made by Matani 
Bishaad, a Navajo. In it the President's own 
name is woven. 

It seems that the woman came to Oraibi, Ari- 
zona, to do some trading. While in a store she 
saw a large picture on the wall. Looking at it 
for some time, she turned to the storekeeper and 
asked : * * Who is the white man ? Him look good ; 
him have good, strong face ; him honest man. * ' 

The storekeeper replied: **It is the picture of 

121 



122 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

our big White Chief at Washington. His 
name is Harding/' 

The woman again looked long and earnestly 
at the picture. ^*You make his name for me.'' 
So the storekeeper printed the name for her; she 
took it and went away. A week later the woman 
returned and unrolled on the counter of the store 
a fine blanket she had woven. 

The trader at once said: ''I will buy it^ — 
how much?" 

**Me no selP' cried the woman. ^*Me make it 
for White Chief. See his name." In the blanket 
well woven, beautiful in color, texture and design, 
nestled the name, *^ Harding." *^Send it to him 
for me," added the woman. *^Him has good face, 
make good White Chief." 

No gift ever received by the President is more 
highly prized and no visitor will be more welcome 
to the White House than Natani Bishaad, Navajo 
denizen of the Painted Desert 

The writer recalls that at a great night meeting 
during the campaign, the sight of Mr. Harding, 
weary and worn after a most strenuous day of 
speaking to multitudes in the open air, yet smil- 
ing the while, prompted a woman reporter to re- 
mark: ^*He has the kindliest face I have ever 
seen." 



XX 

THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE 

Presented to the President — Many Others Added to His Col- 
lection — Pitches Good Game of ^'Horseshoe'' — Tribute to 
Village ^'Smithies" 

Shortly after bis inauguration President Hard- 
ing received a beautiful gold-plated horseshoe 
from a Civil War veteran of the Sandusky, Ohio, 
Soldiers^ Home, with a note expressing the wish 
that the golden horseshoe might bring the Chief 
Executive good luck, and addressing him as 
*^ Uncle Warren.'^ ** Uncle Warren'* it became 
before the conclusion of the campaign. 

The first time the salutation was heard was at 
a tri-county farmers* picnic, an hour's ride from 
Marion. It was in the candidate 's old senatorial 
district and the old soldier was among those who 
knew him personally and intimately. Mr. Hard- 
ing had no sooner begun his address than cries 
of *^ That's good. Uncle Warren,*' ''Hit 'em. 
Uncle W;arren!" issued from the audience. 

Of course the correspondents told about this 
in their reports, and when trips were made to 
various parts of the country the candidate was 
frequently greeted with salutations of ''Uncle 

Warren. ' ' 

123 



124 PBINTER TO PRESIDENT 

The tri-county meeting was marked with the 
first horseshoe feature. Reports had been printed 
in the newspapers of the candidate's fondness for 
^* pitching/' and as he was about to deliver his 
address he was presented with an especially 
wrought horseshoe, polished like silver, the work- 
manship and gift of a rural blacksmith. It was 
given as a token of good fortune and the donor 
predicted, ^'With this emblem of good luck, you 
will pitch a ringer that will go around the globe. ' ' 

Mr. Harding's response was a tribute to the 
village blacksmith, a tribute that a reporter de- 
scribed as a ^^ classic of the forge." From earli- 
est boyhood, even when he ** shooed flies from 
horses while the blacksmith shod them," he had 
had a deep reverence for the village smithy, 
**who," he said, *^has clung tenaciously to skill 
and individuality in workmanship. His skill and 
his pride in his work have been an example to 
all America. 

**Life without toil, if possible, would be an 
intolerable existence. Work is the supreme en- 
gagement, the sublime luxury of life. And there 
will be employers so long as there is leadership 
among men, and there will be employes until 
human progress is paralyzed and the development 
of humankind dies on one common altar of medi- 
ocrity. Our problem, then, is to find the high 
order of employment, the conditions under which 



THE GOLDEN HOBSESHOE 125 

we may work to the highest attainment and the 
greatest common good for all concerned. 

^'It is utterly false to assume that labor and 
capital are in deadly conflict. Such a preachment 
comes from those who would destroy our social 
system. 

'^We do know that labor, the human element, is 
of deepest public concern. Contentment with a 
job, with eyes riveted on pay-day, without enthusi- 
asm or desire to excel, never made an advance for 
any man anywhere. 

'^I hail with equal satisfaction the workman 
who has pride in the factory and its output and 
the employer who has pride and sympathetic in- 
terest in his workmen. I want to stress the need 
of pride. And, above all else, I want American 
workmen to feel that American products are the 
best in the world. There is only a touch of satis- 
faction to say our output is biggest— but it sets 
the heart aglow to proclaim America's output is 
the best I 

' ' I want employers to know what is in the hearts 
of the! workmen — their aspirations, their trials, 
their problems— all things essential to concord 
and good spirits. 

''To all blacksmiths I pay tribute and their 
craft will ever abide. ' ' 

Often during the campaign other horseshoes 
were presented, so that, coupled with his lucky 
printer's make-up rule, which he always carried, 
there was plenty of reason for the superstitious to 



126 PKINTER TO PRESIDENT 

believe that the token of good fortune had a part 
in the great success of the ^* presidential enter- 
prise/' as Harding often termed it. 

As a youth he spent much of his time about 
blacksmith shops, learning among other things the 
characteristically rural game of pitching horse- 
shoes, in which he is an expert, as his friend 
Daugherty and others learned during a number 
of games in the back yard of the Harding home 
at Marion. 



^^ 



XXI 

FONDNESS FOE CHILDREN 

Always Thoughtful of Their Welfare and SafaU/ — Wishes for 
Them Every Opportunity — Incident at Missionary Ridge 
— Waffle Breakfast for Urchins 

Childless, he is a great lover of children, and 
nothing impresses him more than the presence of 
boys and girls in audiences. Whenever they ap- 
peared in crowds, especially at stations when he 
was traveling, he was most solicitous. I have seen 
him stop speaking to insure their safety. On 
one occasion, when there were indications of 
danger to cMldren whio crowded close; to the 
train, he stopped talking long enough to change 
position to a nearby outside stairway, thus shift- 
ing the crowd, remarking that he would not have 
a child hurt **for anything in the world. ^* 

He is fond of recollecting his own childhood, 
how his playmates, as he expresses it, **clad in the 
same raiment, frolicked in the same games and 
romped together merrily and happily without 
thought of class or caste." Among children of his 
community there was no social distinction ; all had 
the same golden American opportunity; all en- 
joyed the same social justice. *^ And I wish it were 

127 



128 PEINTER TO PEESIDENT 

so everywhere, ' ^ is his prayer. ' ' No class or caste 
— and equal justice before the law for all, ' ' 

One of his favorite themes, in greeting children, 
is a recital of the varied careers, all successful, of 
the boys with whom he went to school. As an 
inspiration to youth, generally, the story is well 
worth repeating. 

*^I grew up in a village and had my schooling 
among typical American boys and girls. We knew 
true democracy and were taught reverence for 
government and fidelity to law. I do not believe 
that anywhere in the world is there such perfect 
democracy as in the average American village, 
where the children grow up in confidence, sim- 
Ijlicity and reverence; where there are no social 
strata or society requirements; where everybody 
starts equal, 

**I wonder if it would interest you if I told 
about what happened to some of the boys with 
whom I went to school? I like to refer to it be- 
cause it is the finest proof in the world of the 
equality of American opportunity. There was a 
boy Ralph whom we regarded as a bruiser and I 
predicted for him the career of a prize fighter. 
Lately I looked him up, after thirty years, and 
instead of finding him a pugilistically inclined 
citizen I discovered him at the head of a bank, 
as peaceful and agreeable as any man in the com- 
munity. I well remember Frank, the carpenter's 
son, who today is one of the captains of industry 
in Chicago and even before the World's War ad- 



FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN 129 

vanced salaries lie was getting twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars a year. 

^^Ed, the cobbler's boy, wanted to be a geolo- 
gist. In order to study to more advantage, be- 
cause his father was not able to send him to 
college, he became a Pullman conductor, to school 
himself as he worked. He did not become a geol- 
ogist, however, but instead is one of the greatest 
preachers of today. Charlie was the grocer's son. 
You would not have thought he had any special 
advantages, but his father loved him and sent him 
to college. Today he is one of the first lawyers 
in Ohio, measures his wealth in large figures — 
and never cheated anybody out of a cent. 

i i There were others who succeeded only moder- 
ately, but are happy, contented citizens in their 
own communities. Which brings to mind a bit of 
homely philosophy — what is the greatest thing in 
life? Happiness. And there is more happiness 
and more opportunity among the average of 
American children than among all the children of 
the world." 

Speaking of opportunities that exist for every- 
one in America, President Harding related that 
when he was an eight-year-old boy, on his grand- 
father's farm, there was a farm-hand whom he 
knew well. This farmhand apparently differed 
in no way from others, and yet he was imbued 
with true American ambition. *^When twenty- 
one," stated Mr. Harding, *^he married and 
started west with his bride, a wagon, a team of 



130 PEINTEK TO PEESIDENT 

horses, and twenty-five dollars in money. He 
located in Iowa, and when I was in Iowa two years 
ago I met him for the first time since he left 
my grandfather's farm. He not only owned 
four hundred and eighty acres of rich Iowa land, 
but was the owner of the local elevator, had built 
the telephone system, and was one of the most 
prosperious citizens of his community. This 
farm-hand of my boyhood was simply another 
example of the wonderful romance of American 
life.'' Continuing, Mr. Harding said, ''What I 
like about this republic is its guarantee of oppor- 
tunity, so that boys and girls who aspire to 
achieve may be protected in their achievement." 
The writer recalls an instance during Mr. Hard- 
ing's visit to the battlefields near Chattanooga. 
Observing the faces of children peering through 
the windows of a nearby schoolhouse, just as he 
was about to enter his automobile after having 
climbed to the top of Missionary Ridge, Mr. Hard- 
ing immediately called a halt and started in the 
direction of the school. Not to be outdone, the 
children poured out of the schoolhouse and came 
running toward him and Mrs. Harding. They met 
half-way, and he and Mrs. Harding immediately 
began shaking hands with all the little boys and 
girls. Their greetings concluded, the children 
gathered in a semi-circle and in unison sang the 
national anthem. It was a beautiful tribute, and 
the more appreciated because in no way pre- 
arranged. 



FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN 131 

During the campaign, knowing of his fondness 
for them, Marion children frequently visited the 
front porch and not only were they made happy 
by the most generous, sincere greeting but invari- 
ably the candidate would summon a photographer 
to have a group picture taken. 

News of the reception children were sure to en- 
joy when visiting the Marion front porch reached 
Cleveland, and on one Sunday morning while 
Mr. and Mrs. Harding were at breakfast they 
heard the sweetest of violin playing. Proceeding 
to the front porch, they found four ragged urchins 
fiddling away for dear life. In response to in- 
quiry from Mr. Harding they said they had just 
arrived from Cleveland, which they had left at 
two A. M. They said they were Slavs and had 
come especially to serenade him. 

^^Well, this is certainly fine of you, and while 
you are playing another piece Mrs. Harding will 
arrange to give you some breakfast,'^ said the 
Senator, and he manifested in every way the keen 
enjoyment afforded him by the unusual compli- 
ment of the foreign lads. 

It happened to be one of those famous waffle 
and chipped-beef -gravy Sunday mornings in the 
Harding household. Not only are waffles, with 
chipped beef and gravy, the President's favorite 
breakfast dish, but he likes his coffee served with 
meals instead of afterwards. Here, by the way, is 
the famous Harding waffle recipe: Two eggs, 
two tablespoons sugar, two tablespoons butter, one 



132 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

teaspoon salt, one pint milk, enongli flour to make 
a thin batter, two large teaspoons of baking pow- 
der. Beat the yolks of eggs, add sugar and salt, 
melted butter, add milk and flour. Last, just 
before ready to bake, add beaten whites of eggs 
and the baking powder. 

It also happened that the writer was in the 
near vicinity when the four ragged lads, with their 
violins resting against kitchen sink and ice-box, 
sat down at a table at places assigned by Mrs. 
Harding. It was good to see Inez stack the plates 
with waffles buried in gravy and to see the train- 
begrimed youngsters dig in. While they were eat- 
ing the presidential nominee himself appeared in 
the kitchen, chatted with the urchins and gave 
each of them a piece of money. 

A few hours later, at the station awaiting their 
train, the boys were passing Harding buttons 
around. They had become Harding boosters for- 
ever. 

Boyhood days when President Harding used to 
slip off to the old swimming hole in the creek 
near Caledonia were recalled by him in an answer 
to an appeal from a twelve-year-old Washington 
city lad that he attend a ball for a swimming pool. 
In part the letter said: "Mr. President: We want 
a swimming pool just like you would if you were 
a boy. I told the boys that I did not believe any 
President would let the boys go without a 
swimming pool. Please write me a letter and 



FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN 133 

let me know. The fellows are so discouraged to 
think we can't have a pool.'' 

In reply the President wrote : 

^ ' My dear young friend : I received your letter 
this morning saying that the boys were very much 
disappointed because they had heard I could not 
attend the ball in the interest of your swimming 
pool fund. I am exceedingly glad you wrote to 
me about this because I do not want the boys to 
think that I am not interested in their getting a 
swimming pool. I have used swimming pools my- 
self in my time and there are one or two swim- 
ming pools in the creek out near Caledonia, Ohio, 
that I would like to get into again right now, if 
it were possible." 

*^ You tell the boys that I hope the ball will raise 
all the money that is needed to provide the pool 
and that if some of you will come around to the 
White House with some tickets I will buy some, 
whether I can attend or not. 

^^ Yours for the swimming pool, 

** Warren G. Harding." 

Another incident revealing tenderness of heart 
and fondness for children occurred during a so- 
journ in Florida, and is told by Robert T. Small, 
who was present. 

^'The human side of Warren G. Harding was 
revealed when he appeared unannounced on the 
platform of the Florida State School for the blind, 
deaf, and dumb. 

^*The scene at the school was one not easily 



134 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

forgotten. Less than a mile outside of the an- 
cient city, the school — a modern structure of 
Spanish architecture, with white walls and red- 
tiled roof — is surrounded by profuse Florida foli- 
age of cocoanut palms and longleaf pines. 

''Harding was in golf togs when he arrived 
at the school and the silence as he was ushered 
into the auditorium was the impressive silence 
of an assemblage of those who could not speak 
or hear, or, speaking and hearing, could not see. 
There were children in the audience also who were 
crippled, as if the loss of the senses of hearing, 
speaking and vision were not affliction enough. 
Possibly the oldest students at this strangely sil- 
ent school were sixteen. There were others not 
more than three or four, some happily ignorant 
of their handicaps and talking animatedly through 
the medium of the language of signs; and there 
w^ere sad and lightless eyes. 

''It required no stretch of imagination to see 
how deeply Harding was touched, for he began 
in a sympathetic vein and spoke of the point of 
contact between himself and the children, of the 
life work of his sister who is devoting herself to 
the education of the blind. He said he wished it 
were in his power to give to the blind clear vision 
and that he might return to the deaf and dumb 
their impaired senses. Quickly, however, the Sen- 
ator switched to a tone of optimism and for five 
minutes or more he told the children of a bright 
future they could make for themselves. He re- 



FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN 135 

ferred to the beauty of their surroundings, of the 
care the state was bestowing on them and said it 
was the duty of the Federal Government to see 
that the republic should always be worthy of their 
particular efforts. 

' ' There was no record made of the speech. No 
presidential stenographers were along. It was 
just a homely talk of optimism and helpfulness, 
and it revealed Warren Harding at his best. * ' 

Concluding this chapter, I recall that once when 
a mother with a child in her arms came to shake 
hands, President Harding said to her: '*A baby 
like that is the greatest possession in all the 
world. ^ ' 

To those who know him intimately, it is not 
strange that he is so happy when addressing chil- 
dren nor is it strange that one of the most en- 
thusiastic groups of campaign boosters were the 
boys, who, twenty and more years ago, got their 
first business schooling distributing the Marion 
Daily Star for Editor and Mrs. Harding. 

Speaking of the President's fondness for chil- 
dren, Mrs. Harding recently said: ^*He plays 
with every child he meets, even the babies in 
arms, and no matter how big the meeting, if he 
sees a child coming along, hanging to its parent's 
hand, he enjoys sajdng a word to it." 

Referring to his mother as having reared eight 
children, President Harding wrote : '^My mother 
bore eight children, and raised six of them to 
maturity. One afternoon, shortly before her death, 



136 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

we were all at my home holding a family reunion, 
and she spoke of having borne eight children and 
said, with an affection most appealing to me, that 
she had been happy to bear eight children ; and if 
she had her life to live over she would have no 
desire to change it except to bear eight more. 

^*I thought it was a beautiful thing for her to 
say." 



XXII 

SOME HUMAN INCIDENTS 

A Fellow Passenger and a "Guy" — Alludes to His Experience 
as a School Teacher 

President Harding enjoys relating personal in- 
cidents. He recently told that while on a pre- 
primary trip through Texas he was enjoying a 
cigar in the smoking compartment of a Pullman, 
unknown to the other travelers. He took part in 
the general conversation that touched upon the 
coming presidential campaign. One of the men, 
wearing an Elk button, remarked that he had been 
a Democrat all his life but that year intended vot- 
ing the Eepublican ticket. He hoped the Eepubli- 
cans would nominate their very best man. 

The availability and vote-getting qualities of 
various aspirants for Republican nomination were 
discussed by the group, and finally the man with 
the Elk button declared he had heard considerable 
about a ^^guy named Harding,^' and inasmuch as 
Ohio was both a doubtful and a pivotal state ven- 
tured the opinion that an Ohioan would be nomi- 
nated. 

Turning to Mr. Harding, he abruptly asked: 
**Whom do you think the Eepublicans are going 
to nominated' 

137 



138 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

^ ' Yv^ell, ' ' replied Harding, ^ ^ I happen to be from 
Ohio, and my answer might be prejudiced. ' ' 

^^ That's all right,'' responded the stranger, **go 
ahead and tell us what you think." 

In relating this story Mr. Harding said : * * I now 
felt that it was up to me to be on the square, so 
I addressed the stranger frankly: ^Seeing that we 
are both Elks, and Elks are gentlemen, I will in- 
troduce myself. I am Senator Harding, of Ohio. ' 

'^At this the stranger sprang to his feet, ex- 
tended both hands and exclaimed: *For heaven's 
sake, hope I didn 't say anything I shouldn 't. But 
it stands — and now that I have seen you and made 
your acquaintance I am willing to bet fifty dollars 
that you will be both nominated and elected. ' ' ' 

It is not generally known that during his youth 
President Harding was a country school teacher, 
but he has often referred to it, for instance: ^'I 
was a school teacher in 1882-83 ; it was the hard- 
est work I ever performed. By experience and 
association I know the school-teaching profession, 
sjTiipathize with the aspirations of the teaching 
world, and believe as cordially as any one in 
America in recognizing the calling, as it merits 
both befitting compensation now, and comfort 
and security in retirement after an honored and 
valued public service." 

Mrs. Sarah E. Wright, who now resides in Col- 
orado, recalls when President Harding was a 
teacher and tells about it very interestingly: 

^ * The school was a mile and a half from Marion, 



SOME HUMAN INCIDENTS 139 

Ohio, and was known as the * Little White School,' 
but its schoolmaster is now President of the 
United States and his sehoolhouse has been con- 
verted into a garage. 

''Mr. Harding was about eighteen years of age 
then,^' Mrs. Wright continues. ''He was a hand- 
some young fellow, tall, of erect bearing, and al- 
ways cheerful. 

"I recall that my younger sister stayed out of 
school one day after she had committed some 
breach of discipline. When we persuaded her to 
return the following day, Mr. Harding asked her 
why she remained away from her lessons. She 
said she was afraid she would be whipped. 

" 'I couldn't w^hip a little girl like you,' Mr. 
Harding said, with a kindly smile on his face." 

There have been many incidents reflecting the 
gentle kindly nature of President Harding. These 
incidents endear him not only to the public gen- 
erally, but especially to those most intimately as- 
sociated. One of the secret service men re- 
marked, "I would rather lose an arm than have 
anything happen to him, and I pity the fellow who 
would attempt it. In all my experience I have 
never become so attached to a man. There is 
something about him I cannot describe. All that 
I know is that I love him. He is a real, regular 
man and means everything he says." 

This man, who by his calling comes in contact 
with those of all types and is hardened against 



140 PKINTER TO PRESIDENT 

emotion or sentiment, merely voiced universal 
comment. 

One Sunday morning Mr. Harding's train 
stopped at a station. He was asked to talk. **I 
once asked my pastor/' he said, *4f it is wrong 
to speak on Sunday, and he replied that 
if a thing is fit to say on a week day it ought 
to be good enough to say on Sunday. And that 
is the way I feel about the gospel of Ameri- 
canism which I am preaching. Yet some people 
might consider it as irreverent, perhaps rightly, 
for what this nation needs more than anything 
else is religious reverence. We in America are 
very insistent about the observance of the pro- 
prieties and the increased reverence with which 
we keep the Sabbath day. I had rather be on 
the safe side, with people inclined to piety and re- 
ligion, because those are the things we need see a 
little more pronounced in our national life. I re- 
member that Washington said in his Farewell Ad- 
dress that we must never forget that morality 
and religion are handmaidens, essential in the cul- 
tivation of the highest citizenship in this republic. 
I would be happy if I could say to you today some- 
thing that should add to American devotion to 
religion and morality.'' And along that line he 
preached a really good sermon. 

On the same trip, to a woman with a baby in 
her arms, he said : * * What a sweet child ! A baby 
like that is worth far more than money!" To a 
section man, smoking a pipe: **You make me 



SOME HUMAN INCIDENTS 141 

jealous with that pipe.'' ''If I had a cigar I 
would give it to you, ' ' replied the worker. ' ' Thank 
you, my dear sir, but what I really enjoy is a 
pipe; there's a lot of comfort in pipe smoking," 
was his response. ''Come on, dearie," he said, to 
a hesitating little girl, ' ' let 's shake hands. " " Now 
you have the range, ' ' he cried to a lady who level- 
ed a camera at him, and when she snapped it, he 
remarked: "I hope it will turn out all right." 
To a railway worker, inspecting the trucks, he 
commented: "I have a lot of respect for the 
inspector. Passengers seldom realize how much 
their safety depends upon the inspector." 

Asked by a student from Phillip's University, 
Emid, Oklahoma, to write an inscription in an 
autograph album. President Harding inscribed: 
"To yours and every educational institution I 
wish a fulness of success. We wish an intelligent 
jAmerica and herein lies America's future." 
WJiile writing it he inquired of those about him: 
"How many I's in fulness?" The student and 
several others replied, "Two." "Oh, no," said 
Mr. Harding, and he wrote it with one. 

At a division point, where crews were changed, 
President Harding stepped from the train and be- 
gan shaking hands. He had not seen a throng on 
the other side of the train, and for twenty minutes 
was obliged to keep both hands working in the 
most strenuous fashion. This was about nine 
o 'clock in the morning, and when the train started, 



142 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

he had personally greeted upward of a thousand, 
yet nearly that many more were disappointed. 

President Harding smokes stogies. No patri- 
cian 25-center mth ornamented band for him ! The 
long, slender, rail-shaped stogie is his favorite. 
He admits that as a work of art the 25-center has 
the stogie '^skinned," but there are many things 
about it that appeal to him. One is its flavor; 
another, its price. 

According to the President's view of things, 
the pipe is the embodiment of comfort, a high- 
powered cigar can always be tolerated, a ciga- 
rette is a mere *' teaser," but a stogie is an un- 
mixed blessing. 

In the United States Senate is a vessel where 
snuff is kept perennially, not that anybody in the 
Senate ever uses snuff much, but because it is a 
relic handed down from the fathers and prece- 
dents are held in sacred reverence around those 
parts. It is told that one day a Democratic sena- 
tor summoned the chief doorkeeper and advised 
him in a wdiisper to keep his eye on Senator Hard- 
ing. ^'I think,'' he said, *Hhat Senator Harding 
is going to empty out the snuff and fill that 
receptacle \Y\th stogies." 

Apparently the President's love for the stogie 
is well known among strangers, for just outside 
of Wheeling a large touring car sped along with 
the Harding machine at a thirty-mile-an-hour clip 
and a man on the back seat reached out and 
handed Mr. Harding a large and vicious looking 



SOME HUMAN INCIDENTS 143 

Wheeling stogie. The President shouted out his 
thanks and ' * lighted up ' ' immediately. At every 
city in the stogie belt the President took on more 
stogies, by way of trying the different varieties 
and not because of any shortage of supply in the 
bottom of his automobile. 

In less than five minutes after his nomination, 
Mr. Harding discovered himself practically kid- 
napped by the press — and ever since his every 
movement has been attended by correspondents 
and reporters, who accompanj^ him everj^vhere. 
On trips they travel in a private car on the same 
train, and are immediately behind in special auto- 
mobiles when the trips are overland. 

Shortly after nomination, Mr. Harding slipped 
away from Marion early one Sunday morning to 
visit a dentist at Columbus, and next day was the 
recipient of a ^^ round robin'' from a coterie of 
the press, strenuously protesting against repeti- 
tions of secret trips. 

^*Do you mean to say," replied Mr. Harding, 
^'that I daren't even have a tooth pulled?" 

^^ Exactly so !" chorused the correspondents and 
reporters. ^^No one can tell what may happen, 
and the public is entitled to the fullest details," 
and they supported their contention by citing the 
attempted assassination of Roosevelt. 

'^You win, but it's goodbye freedom," was Mr. 
Harding's reply. 

When on election night Mr. Harding remarked : 
*^I have lost my freedom," he had in mind the 



144 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

severance of many ties, associations, diversions, 
pastimes, and viewed with dread the circumstric- 
tion surrounding the occupant of the White 
House. 

And this came sooner than he expected, for 
bright and early the morning after election thei^e 
appeared at his humble home several secret serv- 
ice men, dispatched to Marion by the Secret Serv- 
ice Bureau of the United States Treasury. 

It was a shock to Mr. and Mrs. Harding when 
it dawned upon them that from that moment 
every step taken by them for more than four 
years hence, and perhaps four years more, would 
be trailed and guarded by officers and by report- 
ers, too. In other words, freedom had flown — 
and, in truth, privacy as well. 



XXIII 
ELECTION 

Votes in Neighboring Private Garage — Receives First Returns 
at Dinner — Scribbles Statement on Scratch Pad — Not 
Exultant 

^'I do not hesitate to say I am pleased. I am 
happy to utter my gratitude, but I am not exult- 
ant. It is not a personal victory. It is a renewed 
expression of confidence in Americanism and a 
national call to the Republican party. It is all 
so serious, the obligations are so solemn that 
instead of being exultant I am more given to 
prayer to God to make me capable of playing my 
part, and that all those called to responsibility 
may meet the aspirations and expectations of 
America and the world." 

Shortly after eight o'clock election night, on 
a scratch-pad resting on his knee, Mr. Harding 
penciled the above in the library of his home, the 
second room removed from the famous Marion 
front porch and adjoining a dining room where 
during the campaign many of the great leaders 
of the candidate's party had broken bread with 
him. It was written upon receipt of news that the 
newspaper of his opponent had issued an edition 
conceding his election. 

145 



146 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

Surrounded by a small group consisting of 
Mrs. Harding, his father, two sisters, a few 
neighbors and intimate friends, he had alter- 
nated in reading aloud the bulletins, supplied in 
^^ flimsy^' form by the several news associations 
which had special wires and operators in the 
press shack in the Harding back yard. 

It was a memorable occasion with none so calm 
as he who by an avalanche of universal suffrage 
votes — for the first time of both men and women — 
was being proclaimed the next Chief Executive of 
the nation. Though composed, and reverently 
so, he was nevertheless thoroughly human and 
entered into the spirit of the occasion with the 
pardonable exuberance of election night victors. 
He manifested particular pleasure over the result 
in his own home town and county and was especi- 
ally jubilant when he read aloud the news from 
an adjoining county which had gone Republican 
for the first time in its history. 

This happy occasion occurred appropriately 
enough in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harding, a 
frame, two-story structure; with its massive 
porch, now famous, all painted in green with a 
white stripe ; with the customary small town lawn 
and yard; with buckeye trees in front, apple 
trees and grape arbor in the rear. The home was 
constructed by Mr. Harding. The great front 
jporch was Mr. Harding's own inspiration and 
here gathered at all hours the Hardings' neigh- 
bors and friends. ' * We just lived on the porch, ' ' 



ELECTION 147 

remarked Mrs. Harding, discussing early days, 
days in which the wildest imagination never con- 
jured the important part that porch would play 
in the campaign of 1920. 

The voting place of the precinct at Marion in 
Avhich Mr. and Mrs. Harding lived was a family 
garage three squares distant. At 10 A. M., Frank, 
the family chauffer, came up over the lawn (there 
being no driveway) close to the porch. Mr. and 
Mrs. Harding, with Secretary George B. Chris- 
tian, Jr., entered the automobile and proceeded to 
the voting place. Here the four, including Frank, 
formed in line. 

The interior of the garage had been pro- 
vided with special lighting effects for pictures — 
movies and otherwise — and as soon as the party 
entered they were bombarded by a dozen pho- 
tographers. Quite a crowd of men and women 
had gathered in the voting place (the election offi- 
cials graciously tolerating violation of law) to 
witness the event. Senator Harding was tenth in 
line and he and Mrs. Harding declined the offer 
of those ahead to withdraw. Fully ten minutes 
elapsed before their turn to vote. 

As they approached the election officials the 
photographers opened fire in earnest, and with 
the special lights blazing away with intense illum- 
ination the flashlighting continued throughout the 
entire process of voting. Several limes Mr. and 
Mrs. Harding accommodated the photographers 
by posing in various positions, especially as they 



148 PEINTER TO PRESIDENT 

delivered their ballots. As they started to leave 
the photographers quickly changed their ma- 
chines to the outside and more pictures were 
taken; and finally, as a climax to patience and 
accommodation, Mr. and Mrs. Harding consented 
to stage a new approach and entrance to the 
place of voting, the movie men explaining that 
they had missed the actual event. 

Immediately after, Senator Harding, clad in 
a red sweater and well bundled up, climbed into 
his automobile with some friends, drove off to 
the golf links near Columbus and remained till 
dusk. 

On the return from Columbus, a dinner which 
had been prepared under direction of Mrs. 
Harding, for a dozen invited guests, was await- 
ing, and at Mr. Harding's plate Avere some early 
returns, showing that an eastern and a western 
state had gone overwhelmingly for him. They 
seemed to indicate his certain triumph. 

Dinner over, after many friendly interruptions, 
the group repaired to the library and living room, 
where others had gathered, and here the Senator 
and guests alternated in reading aloud election 
bulletins. 

Shortly before Senator Harding penciled the 
statement quoted he was chatting quietly with his 
fine old father and several veteran associates of 
his; newspaper. To them he remarked: **It is a 
proud moment, but the responsibility overwhelms 



ELECTION 149 

me. I fully realize that I have lost my freedom 
and must sacrifice old associations/^ 

He had in mind among other things his own 
personal business — the newspaper enterprise 
which he had developed from a precarious ad- 
venture to one of Marion ^s principal institutions. 
He realized that he could no longer serve as 
editor and publisher, and a few weeks later he 
experienced a sad moment when at a meeting of 
Marion Daily Star stockholders he formally re- 
tired from active association with them. 

Since then he has made only one contribution 
to the columns of the Star^ on occasion of 
Marion ^s centennial celebration — a signed editor- 
ial, as follows : 

The Essentials of Success 

''While Marion is celebrating the centennial of 
the city^s founding, it is fine to rejoice in the 
coming together again to find happiness in the 
exchange of sentiments born of home-coming, to 
recall the pride in things accomplished, and above 
all else appraise the qualities of men and meas- 
ures which made us what we are today. The lat- 
ter is essential to the preparedness for greater 
progress in the future. 

''Sturdy men pioneered the way to early settle- 
ment—and sturdy women, too. They blazed the 
way of development in Ohio, and sent many of 
their sons and daughters to the peaceful conquest 
of the greater west— the Mississippi and Missouri 



150 PEINTEE TO PEESIDENT 

valleys. Eesolute and able men made secure the 
social order here, and simple and courageous men 
blended determination with genius and made the 
industrial beginning. They had little of wealth, 
but they wrought wealth out of opportunity. 
Only a few knew their struggles, their sacrifices, 
but honesty, simplicity, industry, capacity and 
determination are known to have been the chief 
essentials of their success. These make for suc- 
cess anywhere, and are available to all who 
aspire. 

*^Let Marion preserve every good lesson of 
the yesterdays, and resolve to go on, adding to 
the stride in industry and commerce, and deter- 
mine that every enlargement in material growth 
shall reflect larger progress in the finer attain- 
ments which make a community worth while. The 
fit counterpart to the city of material success is 
the city of happy homes, ample education, fortu- 
nate and profitable employment, worship of God 
facilitated, a civic conscience and a community 
soul.'' 



XXIV 
A FEONT PORCH INAUGURATION 

Front Porch Ceremony — Impressive Oath, — Hung Up Hat and 
Got to Work — Perfect Physical Condition 

In his message to the joint Congressional In- 
augural Committee, requesting simple inaugural 
ceremonies, he said he wished to ^*hang up his hat 
and go to work.'' He also suggested a ** front 
porch" inauguration, for he doubtless had in mind 
the never-ceasing good fortune that had attended 
all of the ^' front porch" events at Marion. 

Complying with his wishes a small portico, re- 
sembling a front porch, was erected over the 
east steps of the Capitol, and the inauguration 
was the simplest yet most impressive since the 
early days of the republic. As at Marion, there 
were no seats, and everyone stood during the 
ministering of the oath and the delivery of the 
President's inaugural address — Supreme Court 
Justices, Senators, Members of Congress, Diplo- 
mats, Army and Navy officers, the Vice President, 
Mrs. Harding, Mrs. Coolidge and the others. The 
same good weather prevailed. Although March 4 
almost habitually is inclement. President Harding 
was favored with typical ^* front porch" sunshine. 

There was no parade. The railroads had run 

161 



152 PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 

no excursions. The local inaugural committee, 
upon Mr. Harding's request for a simple cere- 
mony, had ceased to function. No effort was 
made to attract a crowd. Yet an unprecedented 
multitude heard the inaugural address, a multi- 
tude estimated at over one hundred thousand 
citizens. 

Following his expressed intention of going to 
work immediately, President Harding appeared 
in person before the executive session of the Sen- 
ate immediately following the completion of his 
address, and with a slip of paper in his hand an- 
nounced the selections he had made for his Cabi- 
net. In an intimate, confidential talk, which is 
said to have made a profound impression, he 
asked prompt confirmation. The response was 
instant. 

Repairing to the White House, where he had 
lunch with Mrs. Harding, his father, sisters, 
brothers and close relatives, he actually hung up 
his hat, visited the Executive OffiiCes, conferred 
with his Secretary and other associates and 
ordered the gates thrown open to the public. The 
next morning, before the arrival of the clerical 
forces, he was at work; and there has been 
scarcely a morning since that he has not been 
among the first to ''get on the job.'' But not 
earlier than Mrs. Harding, who arrives first to 
place flowers on his desk. 

Here I should write: The End. 

But there is much vet to be written of Editor 



A FEONT POECH INAUGUEATION 153 

Warren G. Harding', President. History \\dll add 
other chapters to the truly x\merican career of a 
truly typical American, still in the prime of life, 
whose field of influence is beyond human calcula- 
tion. 



